Courage To Kill

Nordic noir is uber-hip. And the boho La Mama Theatre is presenting its own winter season of Scandinavian plays — the first instalment the Australian premiere of Courage To Kill by Lars Noren, the Swedish playwright praised by Ingmar Bergman himself. Noren is big on family dysfunction.

An elderly widower (Stephen House) has come to stay in the cold, chaotic apartment of his waiter son "Eric" (Luke Mulquiney, founder of the Public Front theatre company). Emotionally estranged and resentful, they smoke (pungent theatrical herbal) ciggies and needle each other. Dad fixates on his son's colleague and girlfriend Radka (Tamara Natt). Things take a turn when she booty calls late after work. 

Courage To Kill may ask, 'What does it mean to be a coward?', but it's really a study of the masculine obsession with virility, bravado and dominance. In fact, this grim play is not so much the "thriller" described in La Mama's blurb as psychological drama — although questions about Eric's possible double life are left hanging. 

The men's constant querulousness does become tedious, and, bar Radka, the characters aren't likeable. But Richard Murphet's tight direction, and the intense performances, especially in La Mama's intimate space, more than make up for it.