Tiptoe

As 1919 dawns, something sinister has gone down in the backwoods of Logan village.

Two returned soldiers, Seth and Angus, are never seen again after spending the night drinking hooch at a tumbledown shack belonging to local bogeyman Jurgi Girdler, and local lad Archie Cutler has all but vanished too. Then, six weeks later, Archie’s young and proper wife Justine calls on the abrasive, no-nonsense Binny Broadfoot (who’s literally haunted by the ghost of her dead Digger lover Snow) and discovers a dark secret.

Tiptoe, by acclaimed Queensland playwright Sven Swenson, weaves a fascinating and fully-realised world during its three-hour length. With a solid backdrop in post-WWI history, Swenson’s characters are first-rate. Sarah McLeod’s performance as the strident Binny is towering, Caitlin Hill a fine foil for her with a subtle portrayal of Justine.

With cliffhangers before the first and second intervals, Tiptoe doesn’t end up going into the territory you might expect. Swenson’s script cleverly intercuts three time periods, constantly switching back and forth, and the full final act reveal of what happened to these tortured souls drip-feeds information from all three. It’s a sharp way of writing and real edge-of-the-seat stuff.