Two brothers and a sister hit the road north to attend a funeral: highly-strung Felix, self-absorbed Max, and sensible Justine, who’s a mum, which in Max’s eyes has made her as dull as dishwater. Travelling without a map, they take a wrong turn and end up trapped in a small out of the way town after their car breaks down.

Something’s not quite right, and not just in an inbred small town way… There isn’t a phone they can use, it’s the beginning of hunting season and there seems to be no one available to fix their car. Things go from frustrating to disconcerting to terrifying for the three siblings as the secrets of the town become apparent and they struggle desperately to leave.

Todd Emerson is at his finest as the self-righteous, vegetarian slacker, Max, who is criticises his brother and sister every step of the way then hides behind them when he’s scared, bringing a comical contrast to his siblings’ more conservative natures. David Delautour is also funny as the unassuming but slightly OCD Felix. Victoria Spence is solid in the role of their sister Justine who, though annoying at first, comes into her own when things start really going wrong.

A suitably sinister set looms as you go into the theatre – to get to your seat you have to walk down a dark curtained corridor that winds round the back of the theatre, with rusty saw blades and hunting traps lying against the walls and sinister music. Once inside, there’s seating everywhere, around a central stage area, encroaching on the set – beside the bed and around the car. (Yes! There’s a Suzuki Swift as part of the set!) The cast does a great job not tripping over us (especially fumbling round in the near total darkness between scenes).

I’ve seen a number of plays lately that don’t pay service to the never-turn-your-back-to-the-audience tradition. It takes a keen awareness on the actors’ part to make sure they move around and aren’t facing the same way for too long, but adds realism, in a fly-on-the-wall kind of way. You get used to it. Also in such an intimate theatre setting there are no audibility issues.

I got the seat next to the bed, and even as I sat down in the strange arena (feeling like we were ghoulishly packed in to watch a stoning or a dog fight) I was nervous I’d end up falling off my chair with fright right into the middle of the action (as it turned out, although I jumped several inches at one point, I didn’t actually fall off).

To say Thomas Sainsbury is an exciting new talent in New Zealand theatre is an understatement. He’s the most challenging, down-to-earth, funny and refreshingly unsettling playwright/director I’ve come across in years. He’s also a powerhouse of productivity, having written and directed four plays including this one (all black comedies) in less than a year.

Sainsbury’s predilection for weirdos, losers and loners gets you so far into their shoes you wonder if you’ll ever get them off again, making us simultaneously cringe and try to convince ourselves that it’s everyone else that is messed up.

Fortunately, with Beast, we can look on with a bit more objectivity – after all how many of us have actually been stuck in a tiny, obscure hick town with no phones and the locals after our blood? While you’re in the theatre though, it’s pretty up-close-and-personal.

Stephen Fitzgibbon, who appeared in Sainsbury’s plays Loser and LUV, is weirder than ever, and a linchpin cast member playing the parts of several scary, maladjusted locals at different stages in the play. Michelle Blundell is hauntingly subdued as Bartholomew (Fitzgibbon)’s frightened wife Anna.

Benedict Wall, Tasha Wilcox and Kate Rylatt are also sterling supporters of the main cast as various inhabitants of the town.

The effects (lighting, make up and sound) all combine to be impressively realistic. The lighting in particular creates an edge of suspense, going pitch black between scenes making it impossible to tell which direction the action’s going to come from next (there are four stage entrances, so there’s a bit of sudden neck swivelling, but not so often that it gets uncomfortable). And they got the blood the right colour!

Beast is reminiscent of several horror movies I’ve seen, though that’s because it ticks all the boxes of a classic horror/thriller. It’s also funny, a scream in fact. Sainsbury’s usual pitch-black humour cuts through the fencing wire like bolt cutters.

A rare treat for fans of classic horror films, Beast is not just low-brow, b-grade blood-flavoured chewing gum. Thanks not only to Sainsbury’s great script and directing, but also to a cast of talented professionals, the characters are well fleshed out and believable: the siblings are a typical Kiwi family, with the usual bickering and tension, making it all the more scary. You desperately want them to get out alive, knowing full well that can’t happen because it would make for a completely unsatisfactory ending.

Beast even raises some philosophical questions about social ethics and cruelty to animals, for those of us who like to intelligently discuss the underlying themes afterwards. It’s also genuinely disturbing in parts.

I’ve one complaint: Beast is only on till the end of the week, so if you’re thinking about going, go and see it tonight!  
  

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