Seen: Yours Truly at Bats

Debbie and I saw 'Yours Truly' at Bats theatre yesterday. It's a play about Jack the Ripper by NZ playwright Albert Belz.

Short Review: It was very, very cool. You should see it.

Longer Comments: The script was really interesting. It contained a lot of very funny comedy, as well as some nasty horror, and some artfulness that bordered on the pretentious (to my taste) at the start, but had thoroughly won me over by the end of the play.

The performances were all strong, with the most outstanding being the actor playing Sir William Gull. He gave a very funny, blackly scary performance that I really enjoyed. The cast was small, and all the actors were great, but pretty much from his first monologue (in the form of a medical lecture) the character of Gull and the actor had me hooked.

The sound design of the show was very impressive. Lots of use of background sound effects and I want to say interstitials, but I'm not sure I know what that means. Bits between scenes. I particularly loved the dripping water and distant screaming sounds that were used in the asylum scenes - very creepy, and hugely atmospheric. I do have some hearing damage from my wayward youth, so I have a sensitivity to loud noise. There were a couple of moments where the sound was at a volume that caused me some pain, but thankfully this was only about 30 seconds in a 2 and a half hour play.

Costumes? Good. Set? Minimal, and effective. Direction? Um, must have been good. I liked the show. Lighting? Very dim, with heavy use of a smoke machine to make the whole performance space foggy.

Humour and horror mixed adroitly, with some artfulness and passion. Definitely a show worth seeing.

Note: It's not a mystery. It's kind of similar to From Hell, but with more of a romantic tragicomedy element thrown in. Act one is largely upbeat and romantic, while act two is largely horrific with moments of comedy mixed in.

Tickets were $20 each ($14 for concession or groups of 8+)