Love You Hate You Drive You Wild

Just like Elwood P Dowd and Donnie Darko, Molly (Alisha O’Brien) is shadowed by a creepy anthropomorphic animal – in this case an endearing but wise-cracking Canadian moose (Colin Smith). Mr Moose follows Molly when she moves from Canada to Australia to escape an embarrassing incident that serves as the metaphor for her anxiety and mental health issues. At a new job she is introduced to a disappointing manager (Daren King) and quirky new neighbours – Gavin, a David Bowie tribute act (Matthew Filkins) and Annika, an extrovert with her own personality issues (Bianca Butler Reynolds). Will Molly mend her anxious self and start a new life in Oz?

Directed by Kat Dekker, the preview performance I saw allowed this cast to tell the story with warmth and humour, showcasing their comic and dramatic strengths. Alisha O’Brien is a strong lead and makes everyone fall in love with Molly, even though her Moose seems intent on driving her down at every turn. Colin W Smith is wonderfully nasty as the Moose and you’ll long for the time Molly can give him the flick and make him disappear. She has a chance to do this through her friendships with Annika – playwright Bianca Butler Reynolds bravely takes up the reins of her own character creation and plays the wild nature as an antithesis to Molly’s quiet restraint. Matthew Filkins is simply charming as Gavin. While his character doesn’t have much of an arc, he’s just a nice, supportive guy, a type we don’t see too many of on stage, so his Gavin is a delight. (It would be nice to see him more on the RSL club singing stage though.) Daren King possibly has the most fun playing a string of hopeless, egotistical businessmen and a self-centreing wellness guru who turns out to be smarter than he looks.

At about 2 hours plus interval, the story could perhaps be streamlined, but under Kat Dekker’s guiding hand, you’ll enjoy spending time with these characters. The production design by Morrigan Moore is succinct and just works, and there are some fun DB tribute costumes too. Sound and lighting is by Joe Rogers who also doubles as a stage manager with Ursula Heesh. Presented by two of Brisbane’s busiest indie theatre groups, Minola Theatre (Bianca Butler Reynolds and Kat Dekker) and Pip Theatre at Milton, Love You Hate You Drive You Wild has a very short run. If you know you’ll enjoy quirky, character-driven comedy, head on down to Park Road and duck into Pip Theatre before you reach the Eifel Tower!

Beth Keehn

Images by Anderson

Find out more: piptheatre.org