“The tragedy of the piece is that its central character acts out in response to the troubling times of Thatcher’s Britain and his great loss of true identity.”
Max Frombeau
3 Stars
Venue: Venue: The Substation, Qtopia (Darlinghurst) Sydney
Dates: August 6th – 23rd 2025
The Substation on Taylor Square (one of Qtopia’s four venues) is virtually the perfect space for Foam, it being flanked by a disused gentlemen’s public convenience. Once a subterranean electrical substation capped with a rather foreboding brick structure, it has been a performance space for over a year. One enters down a steep metal set of stairs arriving into a high walled cell-like environment. It is cool and an echo is evident.
Foam, by relatively new British playwright Harry McDonald, enjoyed great success over a year ago at London’s Finborough Theatre, a venue only slightly larger in its seating capacity than the 40 comfortable seats at The Substation. Director Gavin Roach has assembled a talented troupe of players and creatives. The set and lighting is perfectly functional, with Akesiu Poitaha’s sound design a treat for the ears – a constant dripping in an early scene coupled with a droning pulsation, along with an effective score linking ensuing scenes. The actors employed various performance styles in concord with the writing, and in particular in contrast to a stellar lead performance by Patrick Phillips as Nicky Crane, aka Nicola Vincenzo Crane (born 1958), the notorious neo-Nazi activist. The play charts several episodes in his brief life from 1974 until 1993.
The meaning of the title of the play, if explained during the action on stage I missed, but delving into urban dictionaries it infers it as slang for homosexual encounters, as well as anger, rage, rant and frustration. In interview (about playwriting in general) McDonald declares “I love watching actors jump off a cliff with a character… I write to challenge the actor… and compel the audience”. Although this production is strong in its meaning and intentions one hopes for more danger and risk on display. A violent skinhead, Crane is written rather passively. Needless to say there are explosive moments, judiciously served up by the Phillips (thankfully not an evening of shouting actors). To my mind the writing often repeats itself – preventing us to discover more of Crane’s motivations, however the supporting characters inject tonal variety and humour into the narrative. The tragedy of the piece is that its central character acts out in response to the troubling times of Thatcher’s Britain and his great loss of true identity.
The classic image of the skinhead, all belt and braces, bovver-booted and punked to the max may not be fully on display in this show. Need it be? I think yes. For my late boomer generation we have that image firmly etched in our mind. Younger spectators may need it reinforced. The woeful resurgence of the far-right in politics, society and media reminds us that hate crimes and despicable acts lay easily in wait ready to ambush the unsuspecting. Art must expose these fools and monsters in order to restore some semblance of hope in the human heart during these present dark times.
There is much to enjoy in this 80 minute production. Its atmospherics are rich, along with a surprising storyline, and the actors’ characterisations being on point.
3 stars
Photos by Robert Catto
Max Frombeau, Theatre Now
