THEATRE: THE PACKER

You might recognise actor Jay Ryan from a stint years ago on Neighbours. He played the clean-cut son of the Scully family, you know – the one with the hairdressing matriarch who sported that ridiculous two-tone hairstyle. In The Packer he plays Shane, a young Kiwi nursing both aspirations of hip-hop stardom and an overbearing, gin-soaked mother. Did I mention he also plays the mother? The Packer is a one-man show, and Ryan portrays not only Shane and his alcoholic Mum, but also his best friend Brad, a try-hard “wigger” stuck in the closet, and his unlikeable jealous ex-girlfriend Charlene. The arrival of two new neighbours, a friendly Islander divorcé and his attractive daughter Pina, disrupt their claustrophobic routine. We follow Shane’s misadventures over a drama-packed evening, featuring everything from violent transvestite prostitutes through to badly identified methamphetamines, fistfights and energetic middle-aged sex. The moral of the story may be that everybody needs good neighbours, however Ryan’s energetic performance will erase all memories of Ramsay Street. One minute he’s embodying his Mum with all the mincing commitment of a drag queen, the next he’s emceeing topless on speed. It’s a hire-wire act that’s mesmerising throughout.

Until May 8, Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling St, Woolloomooloo, $20-28, 1300 GETTIX, moshtix.com.au

BY ALEX BODMAN