Reviews

This classic Australian play was presented by Stirling Players. A contemporary of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, previously presented by director Tim Riessen at this theatre, it looks at Australian culture and prejudice against “New Australians” in the post-war period.

Matthew Whittet insists that his play about teenagers getting trashed after their last day at school should use only older actors; and certainly, this lot are much closer to 70 than 17. 

Armed with precious saved-up grog, these aging teenagers gather in the playground of their local park; life – or something – is all ahead, but this night they obviously have lots of fears and secrets still unresolved.  Gradually and predictably, through games (truth or dare), furious dancing, booze and chundering, each of their secrets are revealed to their peers.

Based on the 1964 film and the much-loved book series by Australian born P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins is considered Walt Disney's crowning achievement and was the only Disney film to earn a Best Picture nomination during his lifetime. Julie Andrews' Oscar winning portrayal of Mary and Dick Van Dyke's magnetic charm as Bert, have made them household names among children of all ages for over sixty years.

There is a certain horrible inevitability about Bad Boy.  We sense with dread where it’s going.  It’s a play about ‘how’ and why’, not about ‘what’.  We know what.  This ‘bad boy’ of the title is not a character: he is, if you like, a representative of the type of man who enacts a series of actions from which he cannot escape – or thinks he cannot.  But Nicci Wilks makes him real: he stands before us in all his pathos – and violence.