As issues surrounding failures in the mental health system hit the headlines around the nation it is a timely debut for the play Monster.
Staged at KXT by Tiny Dog Productions, the four-hander 2007 play from English playwright Duncan Macmillan, Monster is the story of a teacher’s attempts to prevent a disturbed 15-year-old boy from being expelled.
Monster doesn’t offer answers, but looks at the issues surrounding mental health and acts of random violence, and asks if there is a ‘monster’ in all of us.
The play opens with an attempt by teacher Tom (Tony J. Black) to have a dialogue with Darryl (Campbell Parsons), who replies with obfuscations and personal attacks.
Darryl’s mother has killed herself, he has been excluded from lessons and has an unhealthy regard for sharp kitchen knifes and Charlie Manson. Now a trainee teacher, Tom has his own demons, having left a job in the City after an unnamed mental issue.
Besides issues with Darryl, Tom is also dealing with his doubting dipsomaniac girlfriend, Jodi (Romney Hamilton), while Darryl’s grandmother, Rita (Linda Nicholls-Gidley), only wants the best for her grandson.
This is a difficult play to review due to the original cast member for the role of Tom was indisposed shortly before it opened, and last minute replacement Black is performing while reading from a script.
This, and Black’s difficulties over-coming a flat read, makes for a play where the pacing is uneven, along with issues with projection from the two male actors at the beginning.
That Black is up for the task is in no doubt, especially when he goes off script to attack Darryl both verbally and physically early in the production.
Parsons shows that he is a young actor to watch as he applies physicality and mental agility to his role of Darryl, while being steadfastly nihilistic and amoral throughout as he presents arguments for not wanting the meds or to be relocated to a care facility.
As Jodi, Hamilton plays a passive aggressive to great effect, with her scene with Tom when he confronts her drinking while pregnant and another when a knife carrying Darryl visits her at home in a scene that is chilling.
We have much sympathy for Rita, as she is driven largely by love for Darryl as she argues with Tom for her grandson’s ongoing care.
With the loss of her first Tom, director Kim Hardwick obviously had a choice whether or not to proceed with the season. She has made the hardest of decisions whether or not to proceed, no doubt informed by the quality of the performances from the remaining three actors.
Hardwick has kept the production taut but has not made enough allowance for Black’s read to drag on the performances. Set in a black box, designer Victor Kalka and the director have done much with just a table and two chairs as the extent of the props.
Lighting from Topaz Marlay-Cole makes the most of the design with short and sharp fades to black for scene changes, which sound designer Charlotte Leamon uses to great effect with short and sharp punctuations.
With all of its problems, this old fashioned kitchen sink drama does add to a current debate on mental health and our failures to even approach getting on top of it.
Monster
KXT on Broadway, 181 Broadway, Ultimo
Season continues to 21 March 2026
Bookings: www.humantix.com
For more information, visit: www.kingsxtheatre.com for details.
Images: Campbell Parsons in Monster – photo by Abraham de Souza | Campbell Parsons and Tony J. Black in Monster – photo by Abraham de Souza | Romney Hamilton – photo by Abraham de Souza | Linda Nicholls-Gidley – photo by Abraham de Souza
Review: John Moyle