The Stables theatre recently presented ‘The Emperor of Sydney’, the final play in Louis Nowra’s outstanding trilogy about the Boyce family, following on from ‘The Woman with Dog’s Eyes’ and ‘The Marvellous Boy’.

Nowra starts ‘The Emperor of Sydney’ in very dramatic fashion. The three sons and two partners are gathered in the living room of the family’s mansion as their father, business tycoon, Malcolm, lies dying in his upstairs bedroom. While they are anxiously waiting for their father to finally give up his struggle, all sorts of conflicts and tensions come to the surface.

I came out of the play feeling that ‘The Emperor of Sydney’ was the strongest of the trilogy. The play ran for 90 minutes without interval, and it was simply an electric atmosphere on stage all the way through.

David Berthold was again the director, and kept the play going at fever pitch. Toby Schmitz was again tremendous as Malcolm’s youngest son, Luke, who carries within him so much well deserved anger towards his father. Alex Dimitriades was sharp as the calculating Todd, who had been the black sheep of the family but had recently come back into favour. Anita Hegh played Todd’s pushy wife, Diane who had used her sex appeal and the birth of a son to curry favour with Malcolm.

Then there was the oldest son Keith, played by Jack Finsterer, who seemed to have the most practical and business like nature but that didn’t seem to help him get very far. And also Keith was embarrassed by the flirtatious, drunken and manic behaviour of his wife Gillian (Sibylla Budd).

Nicholas Dare’s set of the Boyce’s family home communicated the strong materialistic values that Malcolm Boyce lived and died by.

I felt kind of sad, after the actors took their final bows at the end of opening night. Now there would be no more about plays about the Boyce family. Still one has to be grateful, the Boyce trilogy been well worth the journey!