Perth Voice Interactive

SUICIDE, domestic violence and SAS snipers are linked in a play about masculinity at the Blue Room Theatre.

Amour is a raw look at what makes men tick, and what’s really below the facade of the “strong, silent type”.

Local playwright Tom Jeffcote says it’s “based…on the inability of men to speak of their feelings”.

Jeffcote was motivated by suicide statistics which show the majority are men: “Last year it was 75 per cent, the year before 78.”

Gritty

A long career as a drug and alcohol and mental health counsellor came to the fore in writing the gritty piece.

“Without that experience I could not have written this play, you build up knowledge of the topic.”

Amour centres on a bush weekend with three men and their counsellor gathering in a disused scout hall in Bindyup forest.

One is a former SAS sniper—with a softer side—another a wife beater, who grapples with why he hits the woman he professes to love.

“He does it regularly, and why? Because he feels in control for those few moments,” Jeffcote says.

Amour gets under the skin of the men and what troubles them, but it’s not just blokes sitting around. Moments of comedy mix with violent punch-ups as tempers quickly flare.

And, as you’d expect for authenticity, there’s plenty of “strong language”—“the language guys use when women are not around,” Jeffcote says.

Amour is his first outing as a director, an experience he found particularly confronting when as director he wanted text axed, causing himself pain as a writer.

But the old adage “less is more” won and “really nice lines” went: “You want to keep your audience’s attention,” Jeffcote smiles.

Amour is on at the Blue Room, James Street, Northbridge until May 9.

by JENNY D’ANGER