REVIEW: Guest Reviewer Hamavand Engineer Shares His Thoughts on RAZOR GANG WARS

Thursday 31st August 2023, 6:30pm, The Crypt, St James Church Sydney

Deadhouse Productions celebrates the return of Razor Gang Wars, following its successful run in 2022. Based on the real life story of when the razor gangs battled for supremacy on the streets of Sydney in the 1920’s, the 2023 production is staged in the unique setting of a 200-year-old sandstone crypt beneath St James’ Church in Sydney, affording the (mostly standing) audience an intimate and truly immersive experience that allows you to connect emotionally to the characters and the story, owing to the fact that the rough and tumble of the gang wars and police action unfolds right beside you in the crypts below.

Back in the late 1920s and '30s, brothel madam Tilly Devine (Lucy Hadfield) and cocaine dealer Kate Leigh (Deirdre Campbell) controlled vice in Sydney and were the most feared and powerful crime bosses. Tilly, a London-born prostitute, sailed to Sydney in 1920 as a war bride and later, ran brothels in Darlinghurst and Kings Cross. Each longed to be Sydney's undisputed crime queen and employed ferocious gangs, whose members opted for the inconspicuous cutthroat razor as their weapon of choice, after the Pistol Licensing Act of 1927 ordered long jail terms for anyone caught with an unlicensed revolver. With this, razor gangs were born and battles for control of the criminal underbelly of Sydney ensued.

Standing outside the crypts’ entrance, the show started without a hint, by the sound of loud voices that captured our attention, unfolding in a scene of street gang violence in a dimly lit alley. Time stood still whilst Constable Peg Fisher’s (Kyla Ward) narrated the story and escorted the audience through eerie rooms and passages to witness the lives and times of Sydney’s arduous past.

On entering the crypt, we witness the induction of Lilian Armfield (Donna Randell) into the police force, unapologetically being told she is not to carry a weapon or wear a uniform – and continue to observe the trajectory of her career and the will with which she conquered the underworld. The audience is left to wonder, however, how she will fare, as a door opens and she enters her chosen world and moves from scene to scene through the passages of the crypt.

Tilly and Kate's inner-east Sydney stamping ground became known as "Razorhurst". When the notorious Norman Bruhn (Steve Maresca) makes a bid to conquer the backstreets of Razorhurst, a war of deceit and violence erupts. However, the depiction was complicated at times, and the various men involved as criminals or policemen (Chris Miller, Bayley Prendergast, Christopher Daw, and Barrett Griffin), was confusing, but for the wonderful narration.

My initial impression of Lucy Hadfield as Tilly Devine was that she was not convincing as the alienating heartless villain, contemplating the death of those she hunted down and killed, but rather one appearing too hard to be so. However, her ability to convey the efficiency with which she dwelled on the use of cocaine as a method of controlling her “girls” and her ability to handle a razor, grew on me and culminated in a dramatic, yet contained demeanour that did her role justice. Praise goes to Donna Randell as Armfield, as she eventually manages to form a bond with one of Devine’s sex worker’s and ultimately faces Leigh and Devine, to earn her place as Australia’s first policewoman.

Following the show was a Q&A in the Annexe with producer Stephen Carnell, to gain further insight into the life and times of the razor gangs and the impact they had on Sydney’s troubled past. Whilst I did not stay for that, I would recommend the show as a must-see for anyone brought up in Sydney, to re-visit what once was, the treacherous streets of Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and Woolloomooloo and receive a history lesson in a truly unique way.

Razor Gang Wars plays at The crypt, St. James Church 173 King Street Sydney, from 31 August to 16 September, with daily shows at 6.30pm and 8pm.

Razor Gang Wars - Deadhouse Productions

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