A Girl With Sun In Her Eyes

"A boy ran across the road in front of me. Metres from my car. I almost hit him. If you had hit him, if you had, would you have stopped?"

The question lingers above the heads of the audience as A Girl With Sun In Her Eyes takes the stage in its Australian premiere. It's a cop drama, percussive and knee-deep in the sludge of grey morality.

Jeremy Waters is a captivating fly caught in the spider's web. He is befuddled, stressed, and violated by the cops that serve and protect. He wants his wife and his daughter. He had a bad night at a strip club. No more. Martin Crewes is the face of the corrupt police but his methods are motivated by love. And pain. Among the other characters there are similar moral navigations that we must observe. Kai Paynter is undercover as a prostitute. Where do the lines stop blurring?

A Girl With Sun In Her Eyes is performed well by all, but verges on screaming "drama drama drama" at its many twists. The grey morality is too varied and ill supported by a script that feels at times inauthentic. One intended shock line from the prostitute professed, "He wanted to stick it in my arse and then shove it in my mouth." Oral and anal sex aren't shocking taboos, especially in the sex industry. A few moments rang hollow. Despite strange deviances like this, the show is a great ride. The lighting design from Alexander Berlage and sound design from Nate Edmondson fuel the stage's energy while the actors rend their souls for us.