Wednesday 21 February 2007

Angels With Dirty Faces, Feb 21, 2007


 Angels With Dirty Faces
Written by Iresha Herath with Rachel Fitzpatrick
Production by 9minds
Fairfax Studio, Victorian Arts Centre,  Wed to Sun,  to Feb 25, 2007
Reviewer: Kate Herbert

The first hour of Angels With Dirty Faces, by Iresha Herath, is a swiftly moving, funny and well-observed portrayal of teenage boys in an upmarket private school in Melbourne. 

The dialogue has the authentic tone of 16 year-old boys’ blend of arrogance, under-confidence, profanity and innuendo.

The cast of young men, directed by Morgan Dowsett, is totally at ease and credible in the first half. Toby (Andre De Vanny), the ambitious young editor of The Telegraph, the school paper, struggles to balance his assessable work with his budding journalism. He supports the reserved new boy, Jake (Hagan Matthews), who arrives mysteriously from a Sydney school.

Toby’s clan are resistant to any new blood in their group, but Toby welcomes Jake’s help to write for The Telegraph. The boys go to a Portsea holiday home to celebrate Johnno’s (Adam Lee) birthday. Aran (Deniz Akdeniz) reveals Jake’s secret to the jealous and troubled Alex (Ben Schmideg). From that point, their relationships all goes horribly wrong.

The performances of the young actors are competent despite occasional problems with audibility and articulation. Matt Boesenberg (OK) is believable as Mr. Collyer, the committed teacher and De Vanny captures the inner struggle of Toby. Matthews is more comfortable before Jake’s secret is uncovered and Schmideg makes the rather unpleasant Alex interesting.

 Nicholas O’Brien and Adam Lee are an entertaining duo of boyish rogues and find a range of emotion when their secure lives come crashing down.

Herath’s script is more successful in the first half when dealing with schoolboy pranks, smart gags and mutual ribbing. The emotional and tragic second half is far too long and has two or three false endings. Toby’s personal issues come to a head rather hurriedly and he seems to undergo a complete change of personality in his vindictive attack on Jake.

The play shifts focus from Jake to Toby finally but Jake’s issues are left a little undercooked. The play owes a debt to the movie, Dead Poets’ Society but Angels needs some editing to sort out its ending.

By Kate Herbert

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