RAZORHURST @ THE HAYES

On a cold winter’s night RAZORHURST took us into the world of vice and crime in the Kings Cross/Darlinghurst area in the 1920s and 1930s.

The play focuses on two of the leading crime figures of the time, Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh, who at their height had rival gangs Such was the intensity of their that at one time, in 1936, the Police Commissioner intervened and organised a truce between them.

I enjoyed this look into the dark side of our history. Tilly’s main vice was prostitution, she had a small empire of  brothels, whereas Kate’s thing was sly grog shops as well as drug dealing.

The title ‘Razorhurst’ is a clever amalgam of Razor gang and Darlinghurst.

The show, book and lyrics by Kate Mulley and music by Andy Peterson, is presented as a two hander musical, tightly directed by Benita De Wit. The score features fourteen songs with some The Worst Woman In Sydney and Look At All The Good I Have Done being my stand-outs.

Two actresses play their lead roles and sundry minor characters. Both Amelia Cormack as Tilly Devine and Debora Krizak as Kate Leigh give credible, impressive performances. They are accompanied on piano by Lucy Bermingham.

It was fascinating spending time with these two notorious women from Sydney’s seedy past.

The show runs for ninety minutes without interval.

The Australian premiere season, RAZORHURST is playing the Hayes Theatre until Saturday 13 July, 2019

http://www.hayestheatre.com.au

 

 

 

http://www.hayestheatre.com.au