Hemp, the Illicit Musical
Dispensary Cafe, Enmore (Sydney)
Uuntil August 10
Reviewed by Brendan Doyle
The Dispensary Cafe is one of those rare venues in Sydney where you can sit at a table with friends, imbibe a wine and enjoy a range of entertainment, usually with musical content, for not much money. This time, songwriter Terry Burgan and scriptwriter Bruce McKendry have come up with an intimate musical that admirably suits the space.
The story of Hemp is set in a cafe on the west side of Newtown, run by good-natured dope dealer Cleaver. The show starts with a drug bust, as Inspector Hinchcliff bursts through the doors from Enmore Road and dons rubber gloves to do a "full cavity search" of Delores, slinky cabaret singer.
From there the story brings in Brad, pimp and heroin dealer, his victim Desire, prostitute and junkie, and Squeezer, a copper on Brad's payroll who wants to close Cleaver's operation.
"If there are profits to be made, these are the arseholes to scam it", says Cleaver in a rare moment of social critique. But this being a musical, we're not meant to take anything very seriously. So when coke-snorting Brad gets turned on to pot-smoking, or Desire gives up smack after a day on the weed, we can only laugh and wish that life were so simple. If there is a moral to the story, as they say, then it's an impassioned plea for an end to victimisation of dope smokers and petty dealers.
But the real highlight of Hemp is Terry Burgan's songs and the music provided by the Amazing Hempsters, a seven-piece outfit led by Tom Hespe on sax, who drive the songs along and set up a foot-tapping, feel-good rhythm that had the audience wanting more, much more, at the end of the show. If there is a problem with the balance, it's that the show tends to lose energy in some of the long bits of plot development. But that's a minor quibble.
Brenden Lovett gives a great performance as Hinchcliff, the over-zealous cop who falls madly in love with Delores, played with cool charm by Carroll Byrne. Sue Hardgrave is suitably scary as well as funny as Desire, and Jason Crosson as Brad portrays a credible figure of evil.
All in all, Hemp is not going to convince the lawmakers to change their minds overnight, but meanwhile it's a celebration of the joys of a certain plant, and a night of exceptionally good music.