As Tony's partner Drew, Bethany Sharpe is less controlled by Marcus, but trapped and along for the ride due to her love for Tony. Alex Smith is strong as Tony, saved from the streets by Marcus and very much created in his image, and being tasked with devastating duties. You are never clear in that respect of whether she chooses to be involved with her husband's plans or whether she is little more than another pawn in his game.Īs the cult members, there is an excellent collection of young talent.
Standing, looking cold and dark during many scenes where Marcus addresses his members, and then abused and dominated by her controlling husband. Powerful, and really disturbing.ĭi Wyman gives quite an open performance, with often two veils showing.
Perhaps one of the most chilling scenes though comes from us seeing a private encounter with his wife Mallory (played by real-life wife Di Wyman) late in the play. Us the audience are requested at the start of the play to applaud and embrace the words of our leader, and Wyman delivers them with a dedication to make you genuinely chill and believe how these things could, and still do happen. Here, Wyman shows an immerse depth of performance in what is both performed and written as a truly chilling role. Fortunately cast as Marcus Moores here is Ade Wyman, quite familiar to regulars at the Playhouse, but also generally more familiar as a comic force on the stage. Jones established his cult in the Guyana rainforest, and here in Drink, the fictional cult leader Marcus Moores sets own his own commune, Mooresplace deep in the Amazon rainforest.įor this play to work, as a leader, you need a performer who can handle the stage. Well, one out of two ain't bad.ĭrink takes as the main inspiration the Jonestown cult, which came to prominence in the 1970s and eventually saw under its leader, Jim Jones, the death of 918 followers in November 1978. So, for their second venture at the Playhouse, Drink, the short has become a sprawling three hour (with interval) production and the "unremittingly grim" has been dropped in favour of a play exploring the death of hundreds in an exploration of an American cult. It was a short, sharp, one-act play, which at the time I suggested could have been a longer two-act play and "could perhaps at times benefit from a little more light and shade, as it is unremittingly grim". Contact Light Productions first came to the stage with their production of Bombshell on the Playhouse stage back in November 2017.