Lying Cheating Bastard

You won’t need to con anyone to score tickets for just $30 (normally $48) when you see Lying Cheating Bastard, the story of an apprentice card-shark drawn into the seedy underbelly of Sydney, at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres.

The play is part mystery, part coming-of-age story, part demonstration of the finer arts of trickery as it follows the rise of Jimmy Garcia, Australia’s top con man by the tender age of 27.

Garcia is bluntly, engagingly confident about his strategy: “I always win, always, ’cos I never go against the percentages, I always control the variables, and I don’t leave anything to chance. Oh yeah. And I cheat.”

In Lying Cheating Bastard, the magician, actor and writer James Galea lifts the lid on the murky world of gambling, gangsters and grift. The play, by Galea and Nicholas Hammond, has a limited season from August 24 to 28 at the Riverside Theatres, corner of Church and Market Streets, Parramatta. Herald subscribers pay just $30, saving $18 a head.

To book call the box office on (02) 8839 3399, 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday, or visit www.riversideparramatta.com.au and quote promotion code SMHLYING.