Belvoir St Theatre, January 18
7/10
Most of us balance ambition with the fear of biting off more than we can chew. Jacky has begun to conquer his fear; to believe that he can find his place in the world both figuratively and literally; to carve out his own niche of lifestyle and adequate income in a white world, and eventually afford to buy his own flat in Melbourne. But at what cost?
Declan Furber Gillick’s play places Jacky in a tight situation and then it squeezes his tolerances and his principles, scene by scene. Having left his mob “up north” somewhere to try his luck in the city, he’s open-minded about work, and if selling his body if the most profitable option, then sell it he will. Meanwhile his loser brother lobs penniless on his doorstep, his primary client ties weirdly racist knots into his sexual fetishes, and his white fairy godmother requires him to masquerade as someone he’s not, to attract mining money to her conscience-cleaning philanthropic programs. Hypocrisy begets hypocrisy, Gillick says, and Jacky must discover where he draws the line.
Directed by Mark Wilson for Melbourne Theatre Company, the play is funny, confronting and wearing by turns. Jacky is the axle around which it revolves, and Guy Simon gradually wins us over in the role, as both his black family, represented by his brother Keith (Danny Howard), and the white world, represented by his client Glenn (Greg Stone) and mentor Linda (Mandy McElhinney) demand he not be true to himself in their varying ways. Jacky is therefore constantly juggling moral compasses and material gain.
The play requires a performance from Simon that’s challengingly multifaceted; one to which he mostly rises as the gentle Jacky deals with being pushed, pilloried and bullied, while trying to cling to his dignity and retain his good humour.
Of the others, Keith is initially one-dimensional, and Danny Howard is sometimes hard to understand delivering Keith’s lines, yet he still locates the right tone to elevate the character into credibly being the one who helps Jacky understand his true place in the scheme of things.
McElhinney is typically convincing playing a well-meaning hypocrite who’s prepared to chase funding from any source, however repugnant. She makes us both like Linda and cringe for her. Glenn, however, wins the cringe-worthiness stakes at a canter, and is perhaps Gillick’s ultimate creation. Retreating from a failed marriage, Glenn hires Jacky as a call-boy, whereupon he gradually reveals his naked racism, which becomes intolerable for both Jacky and a vocal first-night audience. Yet Stone ensures Glenn is never just an archetype, but a complex misanthrope searching for his own needs, however depraved.
Some repetitive scenes between Jacky and Keith put a drag on the building tension, yet at its best the play is a warmly sympathetic insight into a queer black man trying to make his way in a ruthlessly white world.
Until February 2.