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ED2012 2/5 Reviews ED2012 Theatre Reviews
Mr Braithwaite Has A New Boy (Out Cast Theatre – Australia)
By Andy Leask | Published on Wednesday 8 August 2012
It would be easy to say this play has balls, given it opens with foul-mouthed rent boy Johnny, totally naked, legs akimbo, sitting on a couch. But that’s the peak of comedy in what is a frustrating, unsatisfying play. The plot itself is straightforward – aged homosexual falls in love with a rent boy – and would lend itself well to either a brazen farce or a touching drama; sadly, this script tries to do both and achieves neither. The thinly drawn characters and wildly inconsistent tone rule out anything of consequence: pathos is undermined by weak comedy, while the laughs barely have time to form before they’re being smothered by insincere sentiment. Too safe to be edgy; too trashy to be meaningful.
C aquila, 2 – 27 Aug (not 13, 20), 6.25pm.
tw rating 2/5 | Andrew Leask
