Written in the late 1970s, Big Toys is Patrick White and his acidic, three-character play about sex, money, class loyalty and possession forming a big bad moral vacuum.

At its centre is a triangle between Queen’s Counsel Ritchie Bosanquet, his wife Mag, and Terry Legge, an idealistic trade union leader who is also a prosecution witness in a case Ritchie is defending. Ritchie’s solution is characteristically foul: use Mag to charm Terry, compromise his testimony and make betrayal look like upward mobility. 

White makes all three characters complicit in different ways, and the comedy is vicious because everyone is articulate enough to explain themselves and compromised enough for the explanations not to save them. First staged by the Old Tote Theatre Company in Sydney in 1977, Big Toys was republished by Currency Press for Playbox Theatre’s 1993 production.

Currency Press, Sydney, in association with Playbox Theatre Centre of Monash University, 1993. Paperback. Light rubbing and creasing to covers and spine, with minor edge and corner wear. Internally clean; binding firm. Very good condition.