The phone hacking scandal that blew up in the UK about a decade ago doesn't immediately strike one as brimming with feel-good stories. The demise of a smutty tabloid was about as close to a silver lining as it got. Nevertheless, after digging around in the News of the World's ashes, playwright Tommy Murphy has come up with an unexpected prize: redemption.
Mary Peirse plays Mary-Ellen Field, a business adviser who was wrongfully fired for sharing private information about her client in the early 2000s. When news broke that a number of celebrities' phones had been tapped by Rupert Murdoch's News International, Field realised what had happened and began sharing her story. When she shared it with ABC journalist Mark Colvin, it started a friendship which ended up with Field... but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Belvoir's artistic director Eamon Flack has described the company's 2017 lineup as an attempt to "defy the cynicism and shittiness of the world". Mark Colvin's Kidney could well prove a much-needed antidote to the chaos. Or, at the very least, a comfortable place to sit while civilisation shreds itself.
Image: Daniel Boud.