The Way Things Work – Rock Surfers Theatre Co.

Overview

If you've ever wanted to peek behind the closed doors of parliament, eavesdrop on crooks and high-rollers, and find out what it takes to make it to the top, go see this. Hell, see it anyway... it's bloody good.

Aidan Fennessy's delectable new Aussie script The Way Things Work is a stark, yet frighteningly accurate representation of deep-seated state government corruption. His characters could well be governing us, approving developments and building our highways. On opening night, investigative journalist Kate McClymont confirmed she's met almost identical 'characters' in the courtroom of the Eddie Obeid corruption case.

Following the recent spate of state pollies' misdemeanours, this show is the perfect way to close 2014. It's directed by Leland Kean and also marks his departure as Artistic Director at Rock Surfers Theatre Co. Kean goes out wonderfully with this thought-provoking and timely reflection of the men we have elected leaders. Men who engage in bribery, blackmail and who will betray all to escape public scrutiny. Fennessy and Kean expose that more drama and animal behaviour occurs in parliament, than in the theatres or zoos.

This play travels across three locations, three sets of characters linked by one certainty: "democracy dies behind closed doors." Fennessy's three scenes are different windows into the same, rotten-to-the-core social system, all encased by a concrete bunker, designed by Kean. The rough brushstrokes on the walls transform from designer stucco to dilapidation, as the scenes demand, just as Luiz Pampoha's lights transform from vertical blinds to prison bars.

The script is quick, wry, malicious, and unmistakeably urban-Aussie, just as the two actors who perform it so well. Nicholas Papademerriou is Pat Barlow, the obscene politician who has lost (maybe never had) integrity, and makes everything a joke to survive the job's dirtiness. His gives a stupendous performance as Barlow, summoning maniacal energy that pays homage to Mr. Bean in some of its absurdity and scale. Ashley Lyons is just as dynamic as Barlow's evasive and morally-compromised secretary. Fennessy's writing is a gift to both actors: each scene full of status games, reveals and reversals.

This race-to-the-bottom play reflects the dirty, disgusting aspects of human nature. The drowning man inevitably panics, blindly dragging his companion down in search of air. This is a society of selfishness, which runs on money. There's no loyalty and no escape, unless people start looking deeper than surface symptoms. But that's just not the way things work.

Image credit: Zak Kaczmarek.