Performance: Cross My Heart Hope To Die

Silo Theatre

Reviewer: Susan Budd


The play examines the relationship of three people in their mid-20s. It is a relationship that is starting to fray around the edges.

Shelley is a smart real-estate agent, cool and ambitious, living with Dean, whose employment is ambiguous. Subject to being called out on his cellphone at all hours, he is either a doctor or some sort of technician. Jacko completes the triangle. An undercover cop, he is a man's man, lacking charm or tenderness but good for a rough laugh and a case of beer.

Karl Straker, who also plays Dean, has written a tight, well-crafted play of 50 minutes. The lies, subterfuge and suspicions undermining their relationship become clear in the dreams that each enact while watching a video with the play's title.

Shelley's dream is the most original and entertaining. She is a 1974 model car being sold at auction so that Dean can buy a later model. Claire Dougan plays off the audience with panache in her disgust at the auctioneer's acceptance of ever-lower bids.

Robert McMullen captures Jacko's brashness as the auctioneer and, as the poor little tough boy bearing flowers, he reveals the deep loneliness and insecurity of the undercover cop.

Dean's dream is the darkest, as his secret is eventually shown to be the nastiest. His angst-ridden demeanour, his jerky movements and tendency to shout loudly when challenged are proved not to be bad acting, but the attempt to mask deep and abiding guilt.

Each character is playing a game. Jacko, initially the most unsympathetic, is the cleanest player.

It is ultimately a sad play in which no character gains the audience's sympathy. Their futures appear drab, without hope of transformation.

The performances are good and Rebecca Maloni's production deft, though a little more initial lightness would serve to throw the dark heart of the play into greater relief.