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Reviewed by Jodi Yeats

As soon as Ball (Brett O’Gorman) bounced on stage, it was evident someone in the audience was going to be asked to blow up his little valve, located near his groin, to get a night of dark, edgy humour off with a blast.

Reviewed by Jodi Yeats

As soon as Ball (Brett O’Gorman) bounced on stage, it was evident someone in the audience was going to be asked to blow up his little valve, located near his groin, to get a night of dark, edgy humour off with a blast.

Ball tells us Charlie, his seven-year-old owner has been taken away in the white Santa Claus truck with blue flashing lights. Soon we find out he choked on a piece of Lego and died. Toys is something of a whodunnit, as the toys try to work out who killed Charlie.

When Viewmaster (Bruce Philips) shows his slides the images soon reveal an unhealthy preoccupation with Kevin Bacon who is eventually shown in a badly pastiched porn shot. This is definitely not a play for kids.

Play pushes acting skills

Rather it is a hilarious and somewhat improvised adult show, using a method initially trialed with Christ Almighty, also written by duo Natalie Medlock and Dan Musgrove and currently showing at Bats Theatre in Wellington.

In Toys, a revolving cast of 40 actors keep themselves free for the duration, finding out with short notice when they’ll be on and always acting with different people.

Each actor has three hours with the director, Cameron Rhodes, or assistant director, Toby Leach, to work out how they will interpret their character, then a dress rehearsal immediately before the show – then they are on.

With so little preparation, actors sometimes forget their lines and have to fudge it, and at other times they ad lib with the audience. Viewmaster, for instance, momentarily forgot how much he hated the usurping X-Box.

The almost theatre-sports aspect attracts some heavyweight actors, alongside the seasoned and the green.

Interpretations have a key role

The play is a series of monologues and so relies to some extent on the actors’ interpretations.

Angela Bloomfield was particularly strong Barbie the night I went. She was beautiful, vain and totally bitchy to her friend, a tokenistic attempt at inclusion, disabled Bekky.

Nic Sampson was an outstanding Jack ‘n the Box - he had the springing motion down pat and was a perfect dark, almost Jack Nicholson-esque toy.

Teddy (Bronwyn Bradley) was also hilarious, especially when she and Jack ‘n the Box refer to their origins by conversing in Taiwanese.

The Michael Jackson figurine was so perfectly played by Gareth Williams, complete with all the moves and a penchant for sleeping with Charlie, it was hard to imagine anyone else playing the role.

In fact the hilarity was so great in after intermission, my friend and I missed the punchline and left the play unsure of which homicidal toy had actually killed Charlie.

This leads me to my only hesitation. For me the plot of Toys wasn’t as well constructed as that of Christ Almighty   - the story was full of great gags but it wasn’t the sum of its parts. Perhaps the x-rated nativity is an inherently more challenging premise.

Not to worry, if you enjoy some good honest, adult humour and theatrical fun and games, Toys offers a fun night out.

What’s more it is a fundraiser for the crew at the Basement Theatre who labour all year with very little funding producing cutting-edge work and attracting a younger audience into the theatre. Big ups to all of them.

Toys
Directed by Cameron Rhodes and Toby Leach
The Basement Theatre to 18 December
Bookings iticket.co.nz
Adults $35, seniors and students $30, actors’equity $25 and groups of six or more $30 each