Friendships off-kilter: Shan-Ree Tan and Eloise Snape in McGuffin Park. Photo: Prudence Upton
This is a play about ego and ambition, ignorance and fear. It is a story of corruption, deception, ignorance and fear. But also, friendships. And there are jokes, too. These aren’t my words – they are spoken by the actor Jamie Oxenbould as an on-stage introduction to McGuffin Park – but they sum up Sam O’Sullivan’s new play perfectly.
To continue: the setting is a semi-rural fictional town in Australia and the action centres around the abrupt resignation of the local mayor and, more importantly, who is going to replace him. The publicity says it’s Rats in the Ranks meets Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, and although I don’t think it’s a mucky as the Rats doco (how could it be?), there are certainly some laughs to be had among the satirical comments in this work.
Under Mark Kilmurry’s sharp direction, most of the five actors play multiple roles (sometimes swapping personas mid-scene). Shan-Ree Tan is school teacher/councillor Jack, who has his eye on the mayoral prize; in opposition is his childhood friend, Fiona (Eloise Snape), who runs the town’s bakery. Sullivan has not labelled the political preferences of his ‘candidates’ but suffice to say Jack leans right and Fiona left. Quite why the mayor (a Community Independent) has not only resigned but has disappeared is cause for some speculation, but the main worry for most of the now leaderless council is that the mayoral role might default to Banjo, a ‘self-proclaimed “sovereign citizen” with an anti-government agenda’. Banjo also runs the local ‘survivalist shop’ (not to be confused with camping gear, because ‘camping is for tourists’. Crossbow bolts, anyone?) and is played with suitable menace by Thomas Campbell.
Other councillors/townsfolk include a retiree, a GP, a publican, the leader of the local football team, the local newspaper editor, and a committed festival organiser. These and other roles are ably and nimbly performed by Campbell, Lizzie Schebesta and Oxenbould – all actors with fine comic timing. It’s a fine ensemble piece, so difficult to single anyone out, but I did particularly enjoy Schebesta’s rendition of the rabid festival organiser Susan and Oxenbould emerging as a very shady-looking customer from the back of the survivalist shop. There are plenty of other memorable moments in a work that – despite some serious undertones – is played for laughs. There are many good one-liners.
The main game though is the newly flourishing rivalry between Jack and Fiona. Can friendships survive politics? Are both of them playing fair? On the mayoral candidacy agendas are such weighty issues as climate change, government surveillance and – of course, given parochial concerns bound to cause community outrage – important matters like changes to bin night collection and dogs on leash/off leash. Given the immediacy of the US elections, we are all pretty much aware of political posturing. This is given full creative rein towards the end of the play.
Simon Greer’s set is minimalist and, we are told, deliberately non-realistic. Likewise, the question: could McGuffin Park set a precedent, cast aside personal ambition for the greater good? Show the world how it could be done. You’ll have to go along to find out. And to quote Bertolt Brecht – whose words are invoked in more than one scene in McGuffin Park (as are characters from Lord of the Flies): ‘Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.’
No hammers in this show, but it is very entertaining.
Until 23 November
Tickets $25-$88
www.ensemble.com.au/shows/mcguffin-park/
