Greenside @ Infirmary St

Aug 15-27 (13.50)

Script:  Stagecraft:    Performance:

As you enter the theatre for ‘The Man Who Built His House To Heaven,’ you are faced with a striking scene. Against the black velvet curtainrie & under a bright spotlight stands a set of scarlet red step-ladders, to which is soon drawn, like a moth to a flame, our protaganist. Welcome to the world of Keenan Hurley, who delivers an extremely detailed all-American soliloquy with DeCaprionic ease. His tale is of the golden boy at college who built his life to order – wife, kids, house, job, he was living the suburban dream. ‘It felt good, a little, for a moment…’ But was that enough? It was time to add space & storeys to his home.

What follows is akin to what Imhotep must have gone through when building the burial pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser in 2,700. A yearning for something beautiful, but making it up as one goes along. As we watch Hurley unfold his multi-layered tapestry of words, one discovers his creation is a metaphor for man’s spiritual wasteland, & that certain something which dwells deep in us all, that is to say the dissatisfaction in the futility of existence. A tale of obsession that is both dark & light, & one which has the crowd chuckling throughout, Keenan Hurley’s charisma & the excellent mood-swathing lighting add to a psychological journey of some merit.

Reviewer : Damo Bullen