Please Shoot the Messenger

Hope Theatre

Playing 13-15 August 2025

Book tickets

When the kingdom and its prince are struck by a deadly plague, the King tasks his newest messenger to seek out every doctor in town in an attempt to find a cure. The messenger has fantasised and idolised this role, as if it is the most coveted position in the world. However, little did they know that the position is cursed and no one has managed to stay in this role for long.

Writer Rachael Dowsett, who also plays a myriad of characters in this show, has created a thoroughly hilarious script and created a character that is a unique combination of wisdom, naivety and dog. Yes, you read that correctly, the messenger for the most part of the play, unconsciously transforms their demeanour and behaviour to that of a loyal pet whenever they are in the presence of the king. Dowsett manages to effortlessly transition from an enthusiastic, yet sensible persona to that of fool in seconds. If this doesn’t scream versatility, then I don’t know what does.

To create a sense of dynamic interactions and to help the audience immerse into this rather absurd one-person play, Dowsett and Director Jacob Proctor have introduced a series of other characters, some of whom created with the help of willing audience members. Worry not, the most involved role has one sentence to read out from a piece of paper upon cue by a harmonica. Even with this minor gesture and involvement, it works remarkably well on an intimate black box theatre stage, where no audience member is more than a few metres away from the actor.  

Dowsett also takes on the role of other messengers that appear along the way. While our main messenger has a brief exchange with audience characters and pre-recorded dialogues, the most meaningful conversations are between our main character and that of their fellow messengers. Each one of them provides their unique perspective and wisdom that help our messenger solve the most pressing task at hand.

It was a pleasant surprise that the creatives of this show were able to communicate character growth within this one-hour play. Over the course of this story, we see an impressionable and overly eager young person evolving into a more cunning version of themself with the courage to do what they believe is right.

Some of the dialogues between the fellow messengers are utter bonkers and exceptionally humorous. However, they do tend to dive too deep into these side characters’ back story and on more than one occasion, seem to distract the main plot.

Please Shoot the Messenger shows incredible promise. It is so humorous, it is as if I watched the court jester masqueraded as the messenger.

Creatives

Writer: Rachael Dowsett

Director: Jacob Proctor

Costume Designer: Tracey Dowsett

Music Composer: Emma Haines

Marketing image/flyer Designer: Madeleine Bloxam