Things did not bode well for the opening night of the newly re-badged King Street Theatre debut show, BOO.

While live music as a pre-show entertainment is to be lauded, it cannot be applauded when the amplification is appallingly out of context with the small intimate space of the theatre’s foyer. It mangled the mingle.

The audio assault over, the play was presented.

Ostensibly, BOO is a ghost story, where the supernatural impacts on the terrestrial in matters of the heart. Matt Jones plays a foxy real estate agent who has had difficulty letting an apartment due to the stigma of a resident having the temerity to die in the dwelling. A desperate and dateless dude played by David Woodland seems not superstitious and signs the lease. He is then accosted by an affable apparition – “call me Ghost” – a swaggeringly spirited performance by writer director Matt Hume.

Three male characters established, we are then introduced to three female characters. First is Lilly or is it Llily – frustratingly no programs were issued on opening night – a neighbouring resident, played with effervescent verve by Alys Daroy.

Next comes Sylvia Keays as the dame that has dumped the dude. He’s hoping for reconciliation, the dope. She is moving on, although she has an astonishing array of returns that are awkwardly structured. Finally, we meet The Ghost’s widow, Katherine Shearer. Shearer has shone in a number of recent productions but her talent here is buried under more than a bushel of bland writing and bumbling set changes.

The choice of blackout gives the transition a sense of clumsy cat-burglary, the epitome of the delinquent direction this production suffers from.

As an actor, Mr. Hume is watchable, as a writer, he should be encouraged to work on structure, and as a helmer he should probably let someone else take the reins.

An inauspicious start to writing for the stage, perhaps, but, while it does not deserve bouquets, neither does BOO deserve boos.

© Richard Cotter

3rd May, 2012

Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- BOO, King Street theatre, Newtown, Matt Hume, David Woodland, Alys Daroy, Sylvia Keays, Katherine Shearer, Sydney Arts Guide, Richard Cotter.