Felicity’s Score: 4.5/5 Barks
Arinze Kene’s Good Dog is a revolt against concrete notions of good and bad, with Green Door Theatre treating us to a thoughtful and revelatory rendition of the play at Kings Cross Theatre.
Meet ‘Boy’. Everybody living in his part of town is waiting for something…waiting for something good to happen or something bad to cease. It must be true, his dad has told him; if you’re good then good will come and run you over. So that’s what he does, he doesn’t get in fights, he doesn’t talk back, he just takes the hits. All he wants is a brand new bike, he keeps his head down and hopes every day that he’ll come home to a gift from mum. Except that gift never comes, and the hits get harder, and more often. What does a boy do?
Rachel Chant (with Justin Amankwah & Rebekah Robertson) directs this show with simplicity and intention. Allowing the piece to be about storytelling and not spectacle is a directorial choice that allows Amankwah to shine as a performer. A relatively bare stage consists of platforms and a crosswire fence; Maya Keys has allowed design to take a step back and wonderfully compliment the essence of minimalist truth vivid throughout. It all seems so seamless, pulled together by subtle sound (Melanie Herbert) and light (Kelsey Lee). Justin Amankwah gives delicacy and fearlessness to not only the role of Boy, but all other intersecting stories and characters in the play. With no interval, Amankwah seems effortless in his stamina, moving seamlessly from boy to man during a monster two hour act.
Good Dog is, plot wise, a story spanning a decade of a boy’s life as he is taught to uphold morality and wait for reward to follow. But, like all pertinent plays, it is so much more. Is it really so simple that absorbing hits and doing the right thing is all one should/can do in order to receive due karma? What about those forgotten, from whom good seems to escape? What about those at the top, for whom punishment seems to evade?
Good Dog encourages a deeper revolt against existing systems… to question and feel empowered to challenge. Don’t miss this show, on at Kings Cross Theatre until 16 November.
Felicity Anderson, Theatre Now
Photography: Jasmin Simmons
1 – 16 Nov 2019
Venue: Kings Cross Theatre
Theatre Company: Green Door Theatre Company
Duration: Approx. 75 min
Ticket Prices:
$20 – $42
plus booking fee
Tuesday – Saturday: 7:30 PM
Sunday: 5:00 PM
By Arinzé Kene
Mum’s promised him a bike, so he keeps his shirt clean, his head down, and steers clear of the smoking boys and the what-what girls. Because good things come to good people. Don’t they?
Spanning multiple characters, communities and years, Good Dog tells the story of growing up amidst the everyday injustices that drive people to take back control. An achingly visceral roar, Kene’s play crackles with vivid detail and empathy, showing us what happens to those unheard and unseen.
Rachel Chant directs two-time Sydney Theatre Award winning Justin Amankwah in Green Door Theatre Company’s fifth show for the year.
Directed by Rachel Chant
With Justin Amankwah
Associate Director Rebekah Robertson
Produced by Leila Enright with Bernadette Fam and Margaret Thanos
Production Design Maya Keys Lighting Design Kelsey Lee Sound Design Melanie Herbert Stage Manager Gundega Lapsa Voice and Dialect Coach Linda Nicholls-Gidley
