Sex Magick, Griffin Theatre Company, The stables, 17 Feb-25 Mar

 An exploration of tantra, cultural and sexual development, lust, magic and identity, "Sexy Magick" has enough material for several plays, unfortunately not quite cut down enough to be successful for a show performing in the uncomfortable seats of the Stables in the middle of summer. There's a lot of plot threads here, and while the central one, about physiotherapist-turned-massage-assistant-turned-mystical-enigma Ard, is kinda fascinating, this also throws in one of Sydney's plethora of covens, a dodgy health spa manager, a football-team-owning-mother and a retreat into pure Indian mysticism. Astonishingly up until a little while into act two most of this holds together pretty well, but it does become clear that writer Nicholas Brown hasn't quite found a way to make a clear statement out of his many many (MANY) plot threads, and instead is just throwing more stuff at us. Surprisingly in the tiny space of the Stables stage, he manges to direct quite a reasonably flowing production out of his material (with the co-direction of Declan Greene), but this is very much a show that is two hours forty and doesn't quite find the strong central spine that anchors all this time - it feels like this has been thrown on stage more because someone wanted to work out how it would look rather than the fine tuning done to make this a really compelling night in the theatre. 

There's strong performances here - Raj Labade in the lead is a strong sympathetic centre to the story, and Catherine Van Davies (despite acquiring character traits that the script never really knows what to do with) sells the female lead as a determined, active partner trying to resolve what comes up as part of her explorations. Steven Madsen shines in roles as a guru, a footy player, and a coven leader, and Blazey Best similarly strikes strongly as a mogul, an eccentric retreat member, and a spa co-owner. Veshnu Narayanasamy makes a strong impression as a kathakali dancer, a figure of grace and poise, and Mansoor Noor provides strong support in a mix of small roles. But it's difficult not to notice that under all the frenetic activity on Manson Browne's gorgeous set there's a story being told that feels messier by the moment. There's elements here that could be a lot stronger in a more worked-out production, but as it stands this is a beautiful mess, but a mess none the less.