The Jungle at Silo Theatre

Between them the five actors in The Jungle portray 29 characters.

Silo Theatre regulars who worry the theatre has gone all soft with its upcoming 30th anniversary production of Glide Time can take heart in the R18 sensibilities of The Jungle.


Written by Australian playwright, author and screenwriter Louis Nowra, The Jungle is true "outsider theatre" with all the sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, and ultra violence you can stomach.

The story of 24 hours in modern-day Sydney, it explores an urban jungle where corporate sharks live with Romanian rent boys, corrupt cops beat up hookers, drug dealers try and go straight by switching to dealing stolen abalone and lonely costume designers take in homeless aliens.

In the hands of a lesser writer the subject matter could be too heavy-going, but Nowra injects The Jungle with a deep vein of Aussie larrikin humour that lightens the darker moments.

And his non-judgmental approach means Nowra sympathetically portrays the oddest of oddballs and makes even the most abhorrent behaviour seem understandable. Anyone familiar with movies Cosi and Map of the Human Heart, both written by Nowra, will have experienced this ability to sensitively portray people on the margins of mainstream society.

Such x-rated material is in safe hands with director Cameron Rhodes, who proved his ability to inject even the chilliest of material with a heart of humanity in his direction of the Silo's 2004 production of Closer - another play about people behaving badly.

The Jungle is extremely well cast and Rhodes has drawn out excellent performances from all five actors.

In addition to the challenging subject matter it's a technically challenging piece that requires the five actors to take on 16 stories and 29 characters.

With strong performances from all five it is difficult to single out any one actor for praise but special mention must go to Jodie Rimmer. In her return to the stage she well and truly proves her acting chops, especially in the role of the Marianne Faithfull clone and clapped-out singer Cynthia Page.

In the other performances, David Aston impresses with his deceptively simple style, Eryn Wilson and Phil Brown are suitably chameleon-like in their different characters, and Aidee Walker brings a balance of vulnerability and toughness to her different personas.

The design is pared back to just a few key props with Victoria Ingram's costume design providing a great visual shorthand for the different characters' personalities. Lighting designer David Eversfield's coloured panels of light help to give the show an urban feel and Edmund McWilliam's sound design and composition provides a perfect commentary to the action.

But most of all this is a show for actors, and it is a testament to their skill that at the curtain call I had a brief moment where I wondered when the other actors were going to come out. Then I reminded myself that there were always only five people playing all those characters.