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Review: Wally at KXT on Broadway

Review by Lauren Donikian


When a child goes missing you expect the local news team to be all over it, but is it all fake news? ‘Wally’ explores what happens when a young boy goes missing from a television network that his parents work for. Using a mix of flashbacks and present-day scenes ‘Wally’ takes us behind the scenes of a family tragedy and how it affects everyone that works at Northern River News.    


In this black box theatre, the teak looking raised stage sits horizontally in the middle of the room, with the audience sitting either side. There is a screen on one side with branches hanging from the ceiling above it. There are sticks and long dried leaves on the floor. On the opposite side there is a teak looking wall, in front of it is a sturdy wooden desk on wheels and just off stage are two chairs. It is a simple set that is used well during the play. The moveable desk means that the cast can place it in different spaces around the stage to signify a new room. Margot Politis, Set and Costume Designer has cleverly set up the stage so that one side could be used predominantly for outdoor scenes and the other side and middle for indoor scenes. Alicia Badger, Production Manager and Lighting Designer used a lot of green and red lighting throughout the play. The green for more haunting and flashback scenes with the red being used during pivotal moments and monologues. It really brought an unnerving feeling that fit with the story. 


Presented by Moon Bureau and in association with bakehouse Theatre Co, ‘Wally’ was written by Nick Vagne, who also starred as Ned in this performance. The cast includes Andrew Badger who plays sweet but haunted Sam, Madison Chippendale who plays a misunderstood Lou, Lana Filies who plays a journalist that doesn’t know when to quit, Tammie Harper plays Alan an unlikeable journalist, Iley Jones plays a supportive Ren, Suz Mawer is the supportive and hurt Suzie, and Chad Traupmann plays Gideon, the man who oversees everything. For me, the standout performances were Madison Chippendale and Suz Mawer. They were the major players with their roles being the parents of the missing Wally. Which meant that they really got to show off a multitude of emotions. Chippendale had incredible comedic timing, but was also able to break hearts in her monologue and Mawer was incredibly grounding and completely aware of what her character’s role was. It was a strong cast, but those two stood out the most to me. 


Directed by Amelia Gilday, this performance had it all. There were choreographed fight scenes, pre-filmed scenes that were played on the screen throughout and a dream like sequence that felt like a to camera diary confessional, yet every member of the cast was involved. Gilday did a great job by incorporating these scenes and creating a word the actors and audience could see themselves in. It was also nice to see the use of the whole space including the entry doors to the theatre.


‘Wally’ was a performance that I thoroughly enjoyed, and whilst it does cover some heavy topics there were moments of light and shade that didn’t make it feel too dark or overwhelming. There was great respect served in the writing by Vagne, there was enough told to keep the story going in a way that felt real and honest and interesting enough to keep the audience guessing until the very end. It’s a whodunnit with heart, so if that sounds like your kind of show – don’t miss it!

Image Supplied
Image Supplied

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