Twist

Sometimes an ending that satisfies, surprises, and delights can go a very long way towards lifting a show into the winners' circle, and such is the case with Twist, a play operating in similar territory to classics like Sleuth and Deathtrap. If only playwright Miles Tredinnick's dialogue, plotting, and characterisation had been at least a little stronger and more distinctive than they are.

Twist professes to be both a thriller and a spoof, always a tricky balance to achieve, and for much of its length, it struggles to fully satisfy as either one. Perhaps part of the problem is that Tredinnick overestimates the humorous impact of jokes about a bald man losing his wig, or perhaps it's more that the jokes in question aren't terribly well-executed on stage. There are also occasional would-be suggestive references that tend to land like lead balloons. You can tell that the comedic element is being left undernourished when the most solid laugh to be found in Act One is generated by a rubber chicken and its repeated squeaking.

The durable farcical trope of 'mixed-up luggage' is established at the outset by Carsten Oostema, as our protagonist David Woods, in an impeccable 'upper-class-twit-of-the-year' characterisation. As it turns out, the twists promised by the title start to surface before interval, and the fun starts to turn decidedly darker - but this shift in tone is a challenge to accept, in spite of Oostema's strong and steady efforts, because the ideal atmosphere is lacking, and so is true audience identification/involvement.

Happily, Heather Riley lights up the show during her brief appearances, while Nick Manning-Bennett is both slyly funny and credible playing a police inspector. He and Oostema have good timing and rapport with each other, generating a sense of suspense during the climactic confrontation even if it goes on a tad too long (unfortunately, one particular interview scene is staged so statically that it becomes far too easy for one's attention to wander). The remaining cast members are generally adequate - with would-be adulterous couple Veronica Howson and Richard Hobson both setting off sparks with each other and valiantly coping with technical interference on opening night.

The design work of Robert Andrews & Damon Hill is superbly appointed and starkly elegant, but together with the consistently gleaming and sterile lighting, as well as the lack of musical cues, it tends to convey an unlikely mood for either a thriller or a spoof, placing undue burden on the performers and the text to engage us. Jo Allenby has assembled a number of ideal costumes for the characters, including the protagonist's perfect scarf and a slinky cat-burglar-suit for the secret antics of Chantelle Le Roux' diamond smuggler.

This reviewer must concede that, whatever the shortcomings of Twist, they largely fall away into nit-picking when greeted with such a delightful conclusion as what this show provides. Twist may not add up to the most satisfying experience you’ll ever have at the Tea Tree Players Theatre, but you’ll be glad you came, all the same.

Anthony Vawser