theatre

I’ve now seen three iterations of Scary Goats Theatre’s A Twist Of Fate series. The conceit – short Twilight Zone-esque plays, each built around a game-changing plot twist – is reliably entertaining and capacious. Every season I’ve seen has had a different tone and a wide range of premises and themes in the showcased plays. And yet, season 5 started with a delightful surprise that nobody in the audience could have expected: a short film.

Not So Black And White is a mixed media pastiche of black-and-white silent films. You’ve seen or are at least aware of the kinds of characters featured. Nelle Nilson is a clever young woman, dainty and desired by her fiancée Steadfast Sam. Her father is a renowned physicist and the villain, Hardluck Harry, hatches a plan to get close to Nelle and steal her father’s work. Stereotypical shenanigans ensue…until they don’t. The slapstick and physicality are comedically stilted in exactly the way you’d expect from silent films, and while the jokes clearly send up the genre, they don’t feel like retreads of other parodies. There are multiple twists in the plot and character arcs, and they each feel jarring in an arresting and calculated way. Chloe Towan wrote, directed, choreographed, shot and edited this show, and she along with the cast have created a fantastic vehicle to show the beauty and flaws in these kinds of stories.

Riding on the high of the first show is We Live To Serve, written by Charlie Simmons. In a future where the earth is near uninhabitable due to extreme heat, two workers – a butler named Calvin and a custodial worker named Alvin – are desperate to get hired on one of the spacecraft leaving the planet. The poor job interviewer has no idea how far the duo’s desperation will push them. The performances from Patrick Slee, Richard Mealiey and Corey M. Glamuzina are great; their characters are loveable, mischievous and easy to empathize with. I also appreciated the commentary on technological dependence and the concept of disposability, as some lines felt downright chilling in the context of the world’s increasing reliance on generative AI. I think this script would have benefitted from a longer runtime, since the context and exposition felt jam-packed and hard to follow at first. Still, it was an enjoyable show with engaging characters and a sweet, hopeful ending.

The third show, Muffin Day by Richard Mealey, presents a nightmarish Groundhog Day scenario. Ronnie is stuck reliving the worst moment of their life: their death. Over and over, they come into their work at a bank, chat with their bubbly colleague Chris, and get shot by an intruder named Lou looking for revenge. It takes a lot of energy and planning to craft a script like this, where information is slowly drip-fed and elements have to be repeated without getting tedious. Mealey pulls it off perfectly, creating a constant sense of progression and perfectly balancing comedy and tragedy. Developing Chris and Lou more as side characters is a simple yet effective way to subvert this kind of story and foreshadow the twist that comes later. Even if you guess what’s coming, the acting and tone of the payoff makes it both satisfying and harrowing.

The final show, Two Characters In Search Of A Story, is about exactly what is written on the tin. Two characters wake up in a locked room with numerous concealed objects, having no memory of who they are. While transitioning into this show, Towan mentioned that her script was originally going to be saved for a season next year and to be honest, I wonder if that might have been for the better. The two lead performances are strong and full of chemistry, and the way that set pieces were revealed and recontextualized over time was really clever. However, I feel like the title set us up for a more ‘meta’ revelation than the twist turned out to be, and overall, the pacing felt uneven and the emotional arc of the characters didn’t quite sit right with me. Still, many audience members seemed to find it moving, and it was definitely an interesting watch.

A running theme in this season of A Twist Of Fate is breaking expectations. Comedic settings are more multi-dimensional than expected, the assumptions underpinning a familiar premise are knocked out from under it, and characters seek to find their place in their own story. If this reflects what Scary Goats Theatre seeks to do with their work going forward, then I’m sure they are more than capable of rising to the challenges they set themselves. If you haven’t already, definitely come and see at least one season of this show. Whether you guess what’s coming or have your mind blown, you’ll still have a great time with some thoughtful, diverse and entertaining theatre.

To book tickets to A Twist Of Fate Season 5, please visit https://www.eventfinda.com.au/2026/a-twist-of-fate-season-5/melbourne/carlton.

Photographer: Kieran McNamara

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