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| Michael Cooper as Jason, with his puppet friend, Tyrone in "Hand to God" |
Written by Robert Askins – Directed by Jarrad West
Executive Producer/Technical Director/ Sound Designer: Nikki
Fitzgerald
Set Design: Jarrad West – Puppet Design: Emma Sissons
Lighting design: Nathan Sciberras -Stage Manager: Lucy van
Dooren
Intimacy Co-ordinator – Lachlan Ruffy.
Presented by Everyman Theatre - ACT Hub until 20th
December 2025.
Opening night performance on 10th December
reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
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| Tyrone (Puppet) - Jason (Michael Cooper) - Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) - Jessica (Meaghan Stewart) |
This is the second production by Everyman Theatre of this extraordinary play. If you missed it first time around, do yourself a favour and try to catch it this time.
Again, expertly directed by Jarrad West, with a cast of many
of the city’s most accomplished actors, all of whom are new to their roles, apart
from Michael Cooper who repeats his tour de force turn in the central role as
Jason. This alone is a compelling excuse to revisit this play, even if you were
lucky enough to experience its first iteration.
Jason’s mother Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) has been recently widowed
and is trying to manage her grief by making puppets for the local puppet club.
Margery is a member of a fundamentalist Christian congregation which uses
puppets to teach children to follow the Bible and avoid Satan.
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| Timothy (William Allington) - Jessica (Meaghan Stewart) - Tyrone - Jason (Michael Cooper) in "Hand to God" |
Jason has a crush on his next-door neighbour, Jessica (Meaghan Stewart), who together with his best friend Timothy (William Allington) the school bully who’s attending Alcoholics Anonymous, are all members of the Puppet Club run by Pastor Greg (Lachlan Ruffy).
Pastor Greg has designs on Margery and is doing his best to persuade her to put on a performance by the puppet club the following Sunday.
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| Pastor Greg (Lachlan Ruffy) wooing Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) in "Hand to God" |
When the characters become sexually attracted to each other, Jason’s hand puppet, Tyrone, takes on a life of its own, announcing that he is Satan and revealing secrets the other characters would rather leave unacknowledged.
“Hand to God” can be enjoyed as a farcical romp. It
certainly is fun on that level. The writing is witty, even if the language and
the subject matter is often quite confronting.
But for those looking for something deeper, the author, Robert
Askins, delivers, by drawing on the classical tools of humour to create a
desperate atmosphere of mental and physical chaos and violence to display
taboos denouncing the hypocrisy of American society, and more particularly,
that of Christian congregations faced with the sexuality of teenagers. To this
end, he challenges his audience with a complex combination of laughter and
unease as he dares them to laugh as they cringe.
Director Jarrad West understands this, and his cluttered set
design reflects this notion. He’s directed his actors to interpret the
characters, not as clowns, but as real people, and while most of their
reactions are ridiculously over-the-top, the audience is compelled to emphasise
and feel for them.
In a brave, compelling performance, Amy Kowalczuk becomes Margery,
a woman on the brink of a nervous breakdown, and in her grief, in no mood for a
relationship. Overwhelmed by the
attentions of Pastor Greg, and horny teenager, Timothy, her responses are both
terrifying and hysterically funny.
Willam Allington, as the sex-obsessed punk teenager, Timothy, is as confused as Margery by her responses to his advances. The cleverly staged scene in which they succumb to their mutual lust is one of the highlights of the production.
Lachlan Ruffy invests the role of Pastor Greg with a creepy venality that makes it easy to laugh at his inept attempts to seduce Margery. Then later, even admire his acquisition of enough backbone to challenge the out-of-control puppet, and yet, still rejoice in his come-uppance when his self-serving hypocrisy is finally exposed.In a delightfully restrained performance, Meaghan Stewart charms as the manipulative teenager, Jessica, aware of Jason’s clumsy attentions, and unimpressed by his friendship with Timothy. The scene in which Jessica and Jason engage in small talk while their puppets joyfully explore every possible sexual position, is another of many highlights.
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| Jessica (Meaghan Stewart) - Tyrone - Jason (Michael Cooper) share a moment in "Hand to God". |
But as accomplished as the performances of the supporting cast are, it is the virtuosic performance of Michael Cooper, as both Jason and his puppet, Tyrone, which drives the production.
Cooper manages to invest each character a distinct
personality and voice, so that there is never the slightest confusion as to which
character is speaking, even though he never attempts to disguise his own voice
with ventriloquism techniques.
The mood of the play darkens with the climactic scene in
which Tyrone begins to take control of Jason’s life. Cooper’s performance of their
final fight for control is brutal and disturbing to watch but brilliantly
executed and absolutely memorable.
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| Jason (Michael Cooper) and Tyrone harass Margery (Amy Kowalczuk) observed by Pastor Greg (Lachlan Ruffy) in a tense scene during "Hand of God". |
Though some may find it disturbing and confronting, this production of “Hand to God” is hugely entertaining, brilliantly performed, full of surprises and shocks, and an excellent representative of the quality of the productions presented by ACT Hub throughout 2025.
Photos by Janelle McMenamin and Michael Moore.