John A.D. Fraser traverses territory trail blazed by Martin McDonaugh in his latest play ALL THE RAGE appropriately propping up the play bill at the Old Fitzroy Theatre.

On a spare stage presenting a white wall and two doors at either end, the play begins with a woman in black who disappears through one door as the other is burst open by two men in overalls and their blindfolded captive. All three are Irish. The two captors banter about movies settling on a sing song of the theme from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which they get wrong much to the ire of their captive.

The younger of the captors, Boyle, known as Boyler, is affronted that the blind folded feller dares dis Dick van Dyke and tinks it’s shite that the Sherman’s wrote the shanty.

Boyler wants to blow The Baker’s brains out, for The Baker is the name of the blindfolded bearded boy, to be sure.

The captain of the captors, the senior partner who goes by the name of Skin the Goat, nixes the knocking of the know it all because The Baker, it turns out, is a master blaster, a bomb maker of exquisite explosive skill, and the whole raison d’être for kidnapping him in the first place is to force him to construct a device that will devastate an international event and disgrace England.
And then there’s that woman from the opening scene…………………..

Laurence Coy as Skin the Goat, Duncan Fellows as the Baker and Scarlett McGlynn as the woman are all fine, but it is Xavier Coy as the simmering simpleton psychopath who steals the show. It’s a frightening characterisation of that sad and sickening infantilism that feeds fatality lists fueled by fanatics everywhere.

With the recent handshake between Queen Elizabeth and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, this compact play about spin shenanigans is as timely as a tick…tick..tick.

John A.D. Fraser’s ALL THE RAGE opened at the Old Fitzroy theatre, Cathedral and Dowling streets, Woolloomooloo on Tuesday 26th June and is running until Saturday July 14, 2012.

© Richard Cotter

28th June, 2012

Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- ALL THE RAGE, John A.D.Fraser, Tamarama Rock Surfers, The Old Fitzroy Theatre, Laurence Coy, Xavier Coy, Duncan Fellows, Scarlet McGlynn.