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| Jack Ferrier (Potts) - Lachlan (Baby) - Taylor Barret (Mickey) - Taj De Montis (Skinny) - Joel Hrbeck (Sweets) in Red Herring Theatre Company's production of "Mojo". |
Written by Jez Butterworth – Directed by Lachlan Houen
Produced by Gwyneth Cleary – Stage Managed by Maggie Hawkins
Presented by Red Herring Theatre Company & ACT Hub
ACT Hub January 22nd - February 1st 2025.
Opening Night performance reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.
Red Herring Theatre Company’s inaugural production of the Jez Butterworth’s Olivier Award winning play Mojo offers adventurous theatregoers a challenging night of theatre.
Set in the back rooms of the seedy Soho nightclub, the play follows the machinations of a group of young drug-addled criminals who find themselves involved in the gruesome murder of the club’s owner, whose dismembered body is discovered sawn in half and stuffed into two garbage bins.
Directed with a certain flair by Lachlan Houen, the play commences with a largely unintelligible pseudo-cockney conversation performed at breakneck speed between gang members Potts, (Jack Ferrier) and Sweets (Joel Hrbek).
Their conversation is interrupted by Baby (Lachlan Herring) the dangerously psychotic and unloved son of the murdered night-club owner. Baby has ambitions of being a rockstar himself, but his ambitions are being thwarted by local crime boss, Mickey (Taylor Barrett) who intends to take over the nightclub and profit from the success of the resident rockstar, Silver Johnny (Joshua James).
The fourth member of the gang, along with Potts, Sweets and Baby, is Skinny (Taj De Montis) a waiter at the nightclub, who is revealed, in one of many surprising revelations, as having attracted the amorous attentions of Mickey.
Jack Ferrier (Potts) - Taylor Barrett (Mickey) - Joel Hrbeck (Sweets) - Taj De Montis (Skinny_.
Clearly, a lot of care and attention has been invested in this production, which was no doubt more satisfying for the director and actors to rehearse, than for many watching the results of their efforts.
Each of the actors have obviously worked hard at creating strong, individual characterisations. However, the characters themselves are such an unlovely lot, that it is difficult to muster any sympathy or empathy for any of them, especially given the surfeit of violent mood swings, rapid accented dialogue delivery, and baffling plot revelations.
On the evidence of this production, it is difficult to see what it was about this play that earned Jez Butterworth an Olivier Award, or indeed, what he is trying to say with his play.
Photos by Helen Musa
