12A - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

There is a lot of superstition and dread around the number 13. So much so that buildings often go from level 12 to level 14 or the name of an apartment is listed as 12A, which fail to recognise that simply renaming something doesn't change what it is. Presented as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, James Hazelden's morbid 12A is a vignette of stories all taking place inside a suburban home that has the misfortune of being apartment number 12A.

The first of the three revolves around two friends (Brose Avard and Vaughn Rae) discussing the previous nights events as a woman sleeps awkwardly on a chair. Unfortunately this story creates little suspense for the audience and the long silences between them seem out of place given the context of the situation. There is no tension felt from the performances or the writing, so the pauses don't serve a purpose to the narrative. The final moments, while surprising, don't actually have anything to do with what we've been watching so there doesn't feel like there's a genuine pay off for the audience.

Toyer review

North of Eight is Melbourne's new theatre company on the block and they return this month with their second show of their inaugural season, Gardner McKay's Toyer. The Australian premiere of this psychological thriller takes place over roughly 24 hours with a stranger entering a woman's life at a time when the city is being terrorised by a man who rapes his victims before lobotomising them.

Maude (Faran Martin) is a clinical psychiatrist who lives alone in her LA home in the hills and has recently drawn the attention of an unknown voyeur who watches her in the evenings. Peter (Kashmir Sinnamon) is a stranger who has just repaired Maude's car and needs to use her phone to call his friend. With the "toyer" on the loose, so-called because he toys with his victims before he attacks, it might not be the safest option to let Peter inside, but he's charming and friendly and makes Maude laugh, so should the risk outweigh the temptation?

The Last Supper review

Being a leader is not the easiest thing to be. Especially when you are a leader of a mob group or crime syndicate and have to determine who is genuinely looking out for your safety and to constantly second-guess in whom you can put your trust in. In The Last Supper, crime lord Dorian is facing these problems. What follows is an evening of truths being spoken, lies and deception revealed and the extremes that people will go to, to be a leader and claim the power.

Dorian (Gregory Caine) has invited his most inner circle to a meeting, his "trusted" associates and partners. Those invited include his brother Brody (Karl Sarsfield), Madam President, Claudia (Ashley Tardy), the Head of Intelligence, Novak (Kashmir Sinnamon) and the Chief of Police, Vaughan (Christopher Grant). Once Dorian is finished with his interrogations, this may indeed be the last supper for some of them, as failure to perform their jobs results in death.