OUT OF THE BOOT Urban Myth Theatre Company Holden Street Theatres Until 26 Jun 2010 Review by Nick Buckland Urban Myth Theatre of Youth present “Out Of The Boot” as a means of encouraging young writers, directors andactors by giving them a platform for their talents. Such an endeavour requires courage, commitment and a greatdeal of hard work. This season of “Out Of The Boot” has the theme of Freedom and the evening’s entertainmentcomprises two dramatic pieces – “I Am The Messiah”, written by APR Skewes, and “Industrial Park”, written byCasey Nicholls. “I Am The Messiah” is a satire of TV Game Shows which entertains and amuses throughout. Characterisations arestrong and well lead by the show’s compare, Maxine Deville (Patrick Barnard). He remains falsely enthusiasticthroughout his broadcast with a clever change of pace and demeanour to reveal his insecurity and cynicism whenthe cameras are not on him. His assistant, Ms Sexy (Ingrid Schreiver) delivers a strong performance portraying the‘eye-candy’ for the game show with a forced smile and poise that exposes her feelings of exploitation. The Narrator(Sarah Morley) is delightfully bored with the entire experience but needs to ensure that the tone of her mood doesnot detract from the clarity of her delivery. The game show’s Producer (Oscar Bayer) pulls off a blend of calmorganisation and manic activity as befits the sometimes frantic activity of live broadcast TV. The game showcontestants (Briana Andrews, Jessica Humphries and Rebecca Humphries) and the Boy in the Audience (JakeSlack) all deliver able performances. As an ensemble, the cast respond well to each other, have confidence in theirown performances and, most importantly, those of their colleagues. Direction, by Isabelle Danforth-Smith and GuyO’Grady, achieves an amusing short piece making good use of the space and set. When viewed in the context ofbeing a short play written, directed and performed by new young talent, this show is a great success and worthy ofa viewing. The second half of the evening is given over to “Industrial Park”. This is a hard hitting piece of drama confrontingthe decisions faced by many of today’s youth in a world of violence, drugs, bullying and peer pressure. The style ofthe piece is fast and challenging, with each of the actors taking a turn in narrating the action between episodes ofdramatic interaction. The storyline is not intended to amuse but to engage the audience in the struggle foracceptance and survival experienced by a street kid called Latu (Hannah Price). Latu’s journey brings us intocontact with gang leader Kaine (Clancy Pedder) and gang members Tash, Brock and Kirin (Freya Camgis, DexterDuckett and Ethan Caldicott). Each of these characters are portrayed with a hard exterior typifying the grim needfor bravado and machismo that ensures survival in a gang culture. The characterisations are sufficiently compellingto cause you to question how much of the performance is “creative”. This is soon answered as the writers anddirectors have given the actors a wonderful opportunity not only to practice their craft, but to display their skillswith second characters to play. In this they all succeed, despite the limitations of time and space on a minimalistset, to bring in very different characterisations. Of particular note, Hannah Price is very strong in her performanceas a street kid slipping the wrong way down the tracks against her own better judgment. Dexter Duckett alsodelivers a powerful tough guy as Brock with a stark contrast in his characterisation of the Boss. This play which iswell directed by David Hirst (assisted by Caitlin Winter and Sharon Scott). Both productions were well supported with sound and light for which Andrew Kay should be acknowledged.