STILL as relevant today as when it premiered on stage in Melbourne in 2013 the Garrick Theatre’s latest production of The Beast opens in Guildford on July 30.

Long recognised as hard-hitting, cutting edge Aussie theatre, Lynne Devenish Toogood’s new production of Eddie Perfect’s play unashamedly blends slapstick, farce and tragedy to create a truly chaotic and bloodthirsty atmosphere.

According to Swan View actor Greg Ross who plays both the boat skipper and Farmer Brown in The Beast, the script is ‘wild, mad and off the planet with biting farce, embarrassing satire and outrageous humour’.

“It also comes with a guarantee of offending almost everyone in the audience at some point,” Mr Ross said.

“The characters are so vicious, pretentious and flawed and Eddie Perfect’s surreal script exposes them in such raw detail that you collapse in laughter as their own dialogue skewers them.

“You are going to recognise people make no mistake.”

Set in Perth, the play begins with three men hiring a fishing boat and getting caught in a cyclone where one of them drowns.

The rest of the play follows the fortunes of the two survivors who along with their spouses and another couple, retire to the countryside for a ‘treechange’.

“While at times being hysterically funny, the viciousness of the characters really comes out when they try to kill an ‘ethically sourced’ calf for a dinner party in the country after the previously booked butcher doesn’t turn up,” Mr Ross said.

“Such is the pace of the show that the audience barely gets time to draw breath as the play exposes the very worst of human nature.”

Audience members should also be prepared for plenty of fake blood as animals are ‘slaughtered’ onstage.

Mr Ross said the play was quite a departure for the Garrick Theatre and he hoped it would become a high point in WA theatre productions for the year.

The Beast runs from July 30 to August 15 at the Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford.

For more information call 9255 3336 or to book go to the site.