Adelaide Reviews

It is always confirming – and impressive to discover a new important play presented by swathe of local talent, from actors, directors and backstage crew through to the playwright Emily Steel herself. This is clearly a well written, well constructed and well researched piece of theatre, of which the State Theatre Company of SA, and the whole South Australian community can be proud.

The play Is a fictional, but insightful demonstration of some of the vicissitudes and machinations that go on behind the façade of party politicking and the actual development of legislation that governs our daily lives. At the same time, it examines some of the influential issues that sometimes overshadow these processes. We see male dominance, and the barriers between women and power. We see struggles with life-work balance, especially as it applies to women in parliament, both politicians and staffers. We see prejudice, loyalty, revenge, manipulation and threats, as well as responsible and despicable behaviour.

These issues are raised with humour and respect, with the result that this play is both poignant and perceptive, as well as being challenging and delightfully funny.

The six actors were all kept busy playing two or more parts, mostly to good effect. The set by Ailsa Paterson was cleverly reminiscent of our Federal Parliament House, with a very long table providing varying contexts for different scenes. The turning of the table was often part of a scene change, while at the same time, it literally and symbolically emphasised the manoeuvrings and manipulations of the interactions between the protagonists.

The scene changes were done by the actors themselves, accompanied with simple, and poignant original music and sound effects by Andrew Howard, and lighting designed by Nigel Levings.

Virtually all the actors have mastered rapid delivery and crisp repartee, however, without better projection, some of the no doubt delightful witticisms were lost to a large part of the audience in this usually acoustically rewarding theatre. One other problem involved a preponderance of the use of the downstage, stage-left corner of the otherwise large, open acting area. This meant that part of the action was masked for a percentage of the audience. When coupled with the difficulty of hearing, this was unfortunate.

These relatively minor, but important matters should not be allowed to detract from this otherwise excellent production, which is a credit to State Theatre Company South Australia, the director, Shannon Rush, and the entire creative team, the actors and the playwright herself.

This play should be rushed to be enjoyed by everyone who is concerned, puzzled, appreciative, or amused by our parliament and its processes, because therein is lots to be admired as well as laughed about! So see it, and think about it, discuss it, and have a laugh.