Writer / Director Dylan River, who created the excellent short series Robbie Hood before he was attached to Mystery Road: Origin, now serves up his next series, Thou Shalt Not Steal.
The 8 part series set in 1980s Central Australia has 4 co-writers, Tanith Glynn-Maloney, Sophie Miller, Samuel Nuggin-Paynter, Benedict Paxton-Crick and reunites River with Director of Photography Tyson Perkins.
While it’s more mature than Robbie Hood, it again throws together outcasts finding commonality in order to survive.
Robyn (Sherry-Lee Watson) has escaped from juvenile detention in order to help her frail grandfather Ringer (Warren H. Williams) flee a hospital to return to his community of Sunshine Valley before he dies. He also wants to return a racing trophy to her father — someone she always believed was dead.
They secure a lift from taxi driver Maxine (Miranda Otto) who moonlights as a local madam, exploiting young Indigenous girls for fast money. But nimble Robyn steals the taxi from Maxine and heads to Sunshine Valley. By now it’s clear this will be a road series where wild characters emerge from every corner.
One is Gidge (Will McDonald), the yodelling teenage son of a shonky missionary musician (Noah Taylor) who rips off those less fortunate with a bad song and a free bbq snag. In Robyn, Gidge sees a way for him to break free from the oppression and tyranny of his ragtag father.
But Robyn is now on the run from authorities and a pissed-off taxi driver and determined to return a trophy to her father. She’s got no time for Gidge, which is unfortunate given where the road takes her / them.
Thou Shalt Not Steal rings deep with the authenticity of its outback setting. If the world is steeped in abject poverty all of its participants still endure despite circumstance. Home is a broken down, shanty town caravan where running water is a luxury, or a cab that offers independence and the ability to move on from the worst of it.
Robyn serves as our biggest survivor of them all, at just 17 full of determination, resources, and street smarts. Sherry-Lee Watson has spirit, dexterity and rage in an unsettling role which refuses to accede.
“Thou Shalt Not Steal… bit rich from the Bible bashing bastards that stole our country…”
Will McDonald, who impressed as Heartbreak High‘s Cash, adds humour as the awkward teen seizing an opportunity to reject a future dragged out by his father.
Noah Taylor offers uneasy danger as a boozy missionary singing badly and Mirando Otto continues to surprise with her recent range of local roles.
The landscape is another unmistakeable character in River’s work, with arid, unforgiving locations coloured by clashing music choices of Country & Western and very possibly Spaghetti Western influences.
“I been in a lot of shit. But nothing like the shit I was in now.”
There are also clearly first-time actors as extras and minor roles but the series will also include William McKenna, Darren Gilshenan, Sharri Sebbens, Justin Rosniak, Damian Walshe-Howling, Emily Taheny, Geoff Morrell, Bonnie Sveen.
Who knows where this road will lead or the quirky, kooky, dangerous characters they will encounter, but the more Thou Shalt Not Steal unravels, the more interesting it becomes.
It’s another reminder that Dylan River is one of our more original storytellers mining from a history that has a lot to say.
Thou Shalt Not Steal is now screening on Stan.
links to content on ABC
TV Tonight
