Who's Afraid of the Working Class?
Written by Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves and Christos Tsiolkas
Directed by Tanya Denny
New Theatre, Sydney
Playing until September 1
REVIEW BY BRENDAN DOYLE
"Strong language", the program guide warns, with admirable understatement. This new production of a Melbourne Workers Theatre play is powerful and confronting, performed by a dynamic ensemble of actors with passion, commitment and daring, confidently handled by director Tanya Denny.
After a sellout season at the Victoria Trades Hall in 1998, followed by a successful Australian tour, this award-winning piece of theatre, co-written by four talented playwrights, is back on the Sydney stage. And Sydney's New Theatre has come out its recent doldrums with a show that re-defines the boundaries of theatre that matters.
A cold Wednesday night audience was confronted by Jo Lewis' stark set consisting of a giant kangaroo face with piercing eyes, and a spiral aboriginal-inspired design on the floor. Otherwise, an empty space that starkly drawn characters fill with harrowing, funny and true stories.
The four separate but interweaving stories are set in Melbourne in the mid-'90s. In a provocative opening monologue, a young gay man, disgusted with the weakness and lack of success of his working-class father, yells out his admiration for Victorian Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett's "strength". The young man even confides that he fantasised about having sex with Kennett in a lift. This was enough to grab the audience's attention, and it didn't wane for the next two hours.
The working class people portrayed in these stories are all unemployed, in precarious jobs, working poor, or marginalised and alienated. There's James, a Koori man in a suit who sells insurance policies and can afford to go to a white prostitute and verbally abuse her, but he has lost his own dreaming and his black soul.
There's an unemployed father who keeps getting the train each day with an empty briefcase; his son who robs old women to buy cigarettes, and his mother who secretly nurses a dying man for extra cash to pay the mortgage.
Katina and Trisha are two poor migrant girls who try shoplifting, disguised as private school girls, when they're not dressing up and fantasising about being glamorous and successful.
And then there's Orton and his mentally handicapped little sister Stacey, who have run away from home to escape violence and abuse, and end up sleeping in a clothing bin.
Sounds depressing? And yet the playwrights manage to find humour in even the worst situation, for instance when young Daniel tries to rob an old lady who refuses to believe he's not her adopted son.
In a society that doesn't care for the plight of the poor and the homeless, with a government that actively discriminates against those without wealth, these memorable characters scream abuse at the system, yell out their alienation, and go down, if they do, with a sort of incoherent rage against injustice.
As for the credits, it would be unfair to single out any of the actors. This is an ensemble performance of the highest order. Lighting design by Tony Youlden and original music by Pete Neville are equally effective.
New Theatre is back on the rails with challenging, important theatre. See this production if you can.