Okay, where to begin? Well, first and foremost, the premise of the show is divine. It's honestly genius. A guy who hates theatre is given a theatre and must put on a piece of theatre in order to receive the funds to renovate the theatre. It's obviously a play about theatre, but the beauty of it is how little of it feels like a meta-play. And, don't get me wrong, there are meta jokes in this play, but that's not the point. The story itself comes first, and the story drives the comedy. It's also interesting to see a play dissect what makes theatre great and what makes theatre bad so accurately while still being an entertaining piece of theatre in and of itself. It's a breath of fresh air, and it's something we haven't seen in amateur theatre in... wait, no, it's something we haven't seen in theatre before. And yet another praise I can give the story is that it doesn't alienate people who don't work in theatre, or aren't familiar with the theatre politics of the Illawarra. It's an intelligently written script and, although the writer will never admit that, it honestly amazed me how clever this story and writing is.
The same praise has to go to the cast. Holy crap, what a perfect cast. Each and every one of them fulfilled their roles perfectly, and as someone who read the script a few times before production began, they all shone beautifully, and brought the words to life in the best way possible. Dylan Horvat has his first ever lead role, although you'd be hard-pressed to believe that watching him. It feels as though the role was written for him, and it has just the right about of biting cynicism, puppy-dog likeability, and utter s***iness that makes a performance that has the entire package, and I could watch it all day. Not one to be outdone, Sophie Bentley also does a fantastic job as the 'straight man' against the utter wackiness of pretty much everyone else in the cast, but that's not to say she doesn't get her own time to shine. Hers is a more realistic performance, and it's a refreshing one, but when she gets a chance to let loose her own comedic talents, she's one of the best of the lot. Of the three leads, however, it's Arthur Gallagher that steals the show, though with a character like Boris it wouldn't be hard to. Talk about the perfect balance, not only was practically every line out of his mouth a winner, but his levels were sensational. He could go from laughing and happy to bitter and sincere to dark and depressing at the drop of a hat, and Gallagher eats up the role as much as you'd want him to. Seriously, the three leads alone carried the show.
The supporting cast also shine here. Every single one of them has at least one... uh, at least three laugh-out-loud winners, even those that are on for the shortest time, such as Graeme Downey's Priest. He's only in the one scene, yet was wonderful in his limited appearance, and really helped to set the tone of the entire play from the word go. The three actors who played the actors, Rory Holloway, Jack Taylor and Carina Louise, are all wonderful in their roles, with my personal favourite being Taylor's Mario, though all he needed to do was walk out on stage in that costume and he won me over. It's through these three that we not only get a lot of our parallels to actual things that happen in the Illawarra theatre scene, but we also get a lot of humour from just the interactions between them. A lot of people missed it, but one of my favourite parts of the show was Bella trying to 'cheers' while Cobra was going into depth about his past life as a porn star. The three dream sequences ended up being my absolute favourite moments, and the actors, Sam Sweeting, Jarrod Riesinger and Brandon Fairley, did a fantastic job with their limited use. These moments of Horvat interacting with his depiction of Shakespeare were full of humour and... well, I'll get to that in a bit, but speaking of the humour, I don't think I've laughed so hard at anything in a long time. This is a hilarious play. Fair warning, a lot of the references may go over your head if you're slightly older and unfamiliar with what's trending in meme culture currently (and not so currently), but there's enough here that anyone can watch and laugh at.
But, let's talk about my favourite thing about the entire show, and the reason I wanted to write this review in the first place. It's all well and good to call this play hilarious; that's pretty much what everyone else has been doing, but it's worth drawing attention to how much heart and, dare I say, emotion there is to be found here. This is a profound story disguised as a s***post, which might just be the best thing about it. Yes, I was laughing and, yes, that was really enough for me to be entertained, but the moments that impressed me the most were when the show took a moment, slowed down, and just let the characters talk to each other about the things that mattered. Talking about what makes theatre great and why people can ruin it, those were the moments that counted for me, and it was the moments like that which everyone should be walking away and remembering, but also having a long hard think about. It's all well and good to make references to Pepsi or mix-tapes or Shrek, but the thing I'll take away from this is the image of a 'Jason Statham' William Shakespeare explaining why theatre is great. I would have been happy enough to laugh for a few hours and walk away with a smile on my face, but I'll remember Magnum Opus for the story it told and the message it left behind. That might not be what you're expecting me to say, but it's the honest truth. It's not just because I do theatre regularly either, though I suspect that may have something to do with it. This is a show for anyone who loves what they do, despite the fact that it can be a trial to get through sometimes, and you desperately want it to get better. After watching this show, theatre just got a lot better.
Magnum Opus (2018) well and truly lives up to its name. Come for the laughter, stay for the philosophical talks about why people do what they do. Also, the lights were pretty. 10/10.
I'm still in love with Borris!
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