Reviews

The Pymble Players are journeying down the road on their way to the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood in 2025 and hopefully that will be a successful trip for the group.  The characters in Sweet Road however have somewhat challenging journeys that traverse city streets, unsealed country roads and a rollercoaster of uncomfortable emotions.

This World Premiere puppet musical, produced by Scott McArdle and Nick Pages-Oliver, is a full-length bittersweet production featuring a talented five-member cast and a three-piece live band. Clever and thoroughly entertaining, it had its audience entranced throughout.

There’s enough high decibel singing and gothic horror to rattle anyone’s fillings in this two-hour chamber opera that packs a punch and gives the audience a fabulous surround-sound experience.

It is described on stage as a curious story, and indeed the original Henry James tale about a young Governess entering a new home with children that are possessed by spirits is just that.

There are eight scenes in each act, and director Craig Baldwin and set designer Emma Vine ingeniously move the drama through the various episodes by rotating a few platforms.

One of the characters in Hangmen, Peter Mooney (Robert Snars), wants to be seen as “menacing” rather “creepy”. He is. Menacing that is. So are some of the other characters. In fact so is the play! But then it is Martin McDonagh so “menacing” should be expected … as well as very, very black. Hangmen is all of this – and Deborah Mulhall directs to extract every sinister, sadistic moment as well as the “dark, dark humour” that seeps through all McDonagh’s work.