Theatre / The Good Boy Game by Patrick Vermillion, directed by Caitlin Baker. Q the Locals, The Q until 20 April 2026. Reviewed by JOE WOODWARD.

What begins as a cliché develops into a melodrama that is both comic and savage at the same time. The Good Boy Game is precisely what it says it is: a game!

A reflection on a contemporary world in which the insane actions of collective individuals are normalised to the extent of being reduced to a tick-box game in which relationships are simply bargaining points. It is a credit to the production that such concepts are shaped through a performance style that allows actors to play within a heightened reality that is at times fun while devastating.

Giuliana Baggoley plays the mother of a very disturbed young man played by Alastair McKenzie. The father is played by Bruce Hardie. This family unit is totally over the top. While the parents seemingly adopt the classic politically correct viewpoints on virtually everything, the son lives through a vicarious psychotic haze fuelled by notions of fame. As the play advances, the worlds of each collapse into bizarre absurdity. To cope, the mother seeks assistance from a kind of counsellor played by Elaine Noon. The advice given only exacerbates the dislocation within the family.

Over time the play will seek out its own resonance within contemporary audiences. The writing has a dynamism about it that breaks through more conventional approaches. It sets up a platform through which a most bizarre plot grows and creates its tensions that compel audience attention. This all requires acting approaches that also break with much conventional wisdom.

The cast is mostly up to the challenge. They handle quick changes in rhythm and manage to punch out unusual moments and sequences with daring aplomb. Caitlin Baker’s direction provided a very fresh approach to contemporary theatre presentation. The production team shaped the look and sound well integrated into The Q stage.

The opening scenes may well alienate audiences at first. They seem like a collection of cliches that are both in the text and in the style of performance. However, as the production is progressed, the form becomes well integrated into a dramatic melodrama that heightens facets of contemporary reality. The game elements need these opening scenes to give a strange truth to the events that are evoked.

We can see some parallel with Peter Greenaway’s films such as Drowning By Numbers. The universe it sets up contains its own logic; a logic of dreams and nightmares that is perhaps becoming more apparent in daily life. The Good Boy Game has some original approaches that need audiences responses. The Q season is a first.