Toyer
A Thriller by Gardner McKay
Directed by William Schoular
With Al Weaver and Alice Krige
27 February – 11 April 2009
I
A review by Rosie Fiore for EXTRA! EXTRA!
An impressive artistic team and a heavyweight cast distinguish this two-hander thriller, chosen to re-open the Arts Theatre in Soho. Olivier Award-winning actress Alice Krige is matched with golden boy Al Weaver, who played Hamlet for Trevor Nunn, fresh out of drama school. Ruari Murchison’s slightly skewed “Cabinet of Dr Caligari” design is expensively realised in the refurbished space, and the direction from veteran North American director William Scoular is taut and well-paced. Alice Krige plays Maude, a psychiatrist, whom we meet when she returns home from a post-work tennis game. She lives in an isolated glass-fronted house in the hills above Los Angeles. She is clearly distraught, and from telephone messages she receives and leaves, we learn that she is a psychiatrist, tasked with treating the victims of a psychopathic torturer known as the Toyer. He is not a serial killer but a serial maimer, who taunts his victims as a cat might do with a mouse, then effectively paralyses them by inserting a spike into their brains. He has claimed 12 victims and from Maude’s telephone call, it’s clear the police have no clues and he is well on his way to finding a thirteenth victim, and more. Maude’s evening alone is interrupted by the arrival of Peter, a camp and rather annoying young man who has helped her to start her broken-down car at the tennis courts. He talks his way into her home and asks to use the phone, then, on a number of pretexts, manages to stay longer and longer. Gradually, events take a more sinister turn, and it becomes clear that Maude has ended up in the clutches of the Toyer... or has she? A two-hander is always a tricky proposition, as it relies on the ongoing tension between the two protagonists over a lengthy period of time, and here Krige and Weaver manage admirably. The balance of power swings between them and for the full 90 minutes of the play, it’s impossible to tell which of them will triumph in the end. I found the character of Maude particularly well-developed... clues were seamlessly dropped throughout, and her character and motives were believably fleshed out. Peter, however, was much trickier. Al Weaver is a consummate young actor, and a perfect choice for such a chameleon character. However, in terms of deeper motives or understanding of the mind of a potential psychopath, the writing gave him very little to work with. Can we ever understand someone who is truly mad? I felt Gardner McKay hadn’t really tried. Peter shared no personal information (or none we could believe), and while I wasn’t hoping for a trite anecdote to explain his thinking, a little more information about who he was and what had brought him there would have made Toyer a more well-rounded and complete theatrical experience. Will you enjoy it? Impossible to say. I’ve never been a fan of intense psychological terror I’m all too gullible (I couldn’t leave my flat after I saw Silence of the Lambs, I was so convinced Hannibal Lecter was lurking). But I know it’s a genre with an enormous fan-base and I think Toyer is a good example. It’s not for the faint-hearted or the over imaginative, but it’s a cracking evening out and a great renaissance of a splendid venue. Arts Theatre 0207 836 8547
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