A Hoax – Griffin Theatre Co and La Boite Theatre Co

Overview

It's been a little over a year since Rick Viede received his second Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting for A Hoax after winning the same award in 2008 for his play Whore. The remarks at the award evening last year were that the play was already ripe for production. The question now is whether the creative team was ready for it. After a month's run at Queensland's La Boite Theatre Company through May, it is now playing at Griffin Theatre until September 1.

A Hoax is an insouciant farce about a female Indigenous author, Currah, who doesn't exist. Social worker Ant (Glenn Hazeldine) created her, young Miri Smith (Shari Sebbens) embodies her, and pariah publicists Ronnie Lowe (Sally McKenzie) and Tyrelle Parks (Charles Allen) promote and sell her. The public nature of the story means the stakes are high and the power shifts are exhilarating. Sebbens's gleeful transition from naive schoolgirl to savvy businesswoman is brilliant, and I've never seen a better on-stage rendition of Salt-N-Pepa's 'Push It'. Ant is beautifully characterised by Hazeldine, whose breakdown is best viewed from the front left row (just a tip).

The play is sharp, fast, and mercurial but has not been given its full due by Lee Lewis's direction and Renee Mulder's design. The text is camp and brash, whereas the production is tame. Mulder's design unnecessarily announces the time and place with projections of images and text such as 'three weeks later', which is cute at best and patronising at worst.

Lewis's direction fails to tie the cast together to make the most of the tension resulting from the ongoing status shifts. Some scenes sound like they should be building to a wicked farcical climax but are stilted instead. This is partly due to the characterisations of publicists Ronnie and Tyrelle, two extreme roles requiring wanton boldness for them to work. McKenzie and Allen playing them are either misdirected or lacking the gumption to make them fire. The production feels like it's trying to catch up with Viede's bold, intelligent text.

It's exhilarating to hear Viede throw caution to the wind in his treatment of the subject of cultural legitimacy. Just as Ant is criticised for speaking on behalf of an Aboriginal woman, Viede could be chided for doing the same. But this would be a mistake. Surely invisibility and silence is less respectful than a non-Indigenous author having a shot at contentious issues.