The Beast

Winslow is just what you’d expect of a beast. He lives in a cave, he’s had run-ins with his human neighbours (one of whom once managed to capture him) and he has a liking for pretty girls. But he’s a sensitive soul who passes his time observing the human world around him with a certain degree of incomprehension, and hoping one day to find a friend.

Australian actor Stuart Bowden is one half of The Lounge Room Confabulators, who brought intimate theatre to audience’s living rooms last year. His solo show The Beast, which mixes understated storytelling with live music from a cleverly looped ukelele, is a more traditional offering. It might be a bit of a slight affair, but it’s nonetheless touching in its simplicity.

Bowden is a likeable and effortlessly strong performer, welcoming us into the venue and providing asides throughout the show, as well as entertaining us with some bizarre little dances. He has us enraptured as he recounts Winslow’s strange adventures in what seems at times like it could be a children’s story. His writing is vivid and often witty without being arch, with some funny turns of phrase (an evening is “thick with cats”). Bowden takes his time in the telling, but that only feels right for such a fragile, quirky story.

At times the show feels like it might be a bit too sickly sweet, and it’s hard to fathom any particularly profound message in it. But with its wide-eyed naivety and eagerness to please, it’s hard to criticise.