Venue: Ensemble Theatre (Kirribilli NSW), 18 Oct – 23 Nov, 2024
Playwright: Sam O’Sullivan
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Cast: Thomas Campbell, Jamie Oxenbould, Lizzie Schebesta, Eloise Snape, Shan-Ree Tan
Images by Prudence Upton
Theatre review
Best friends since childhood, Fiona and Jack have been close all of their lives. Things begin to change however, when they both decide to run for mayor of their small Australian town. The comedy of Sam O’Sullivan’s McGuffin Park revolves around the pettiness of people in local governments, while offering a reminder on the fragility of our democracy. The writing is consistently amusing, but even though structured with considerable sophistication, its stakes are never really high enough to have us invest more meaningfully than with bursts of laughter, persistent as those may be.
Director Mark Kilmurry activates all the kooky personalities and comical situations, to create a show full of entertainment value, determined to engage from start to finish. Impeccable timing from the cast sustains our attention effortlessly. Eloise Snape and Shan-Ree Tan bring integrity to their portrayals of Fiona and Jack, both actors telling the story with crispness and with humour. Thomas Campbell, Jamie Oxenbould and Lizzie Schebesta play a gamut of zany archetypes, some charming and others terrifying, but all thoroughly hilarious.
Production design by Simon Greer is intentionally unpalatable, but clearly accurate in its depictions of aesthetically deficient spaces that all are familiar with. Trudy Dalgleish’s lights establish variations in tone and texture for the narrative’s every gentle shift in attitude. Sounds by Jessica Dunn too provide effective but subtle enhancements, for a production that connects securely with our senses, to help explore the inner workings of our town councils.
There is an optimism in McGuffin Park that reveals the power of the collective, or how it is in the collaborative efforts of those who choose to participate, that something greater can result. There are no geniuses in the play, only regular individuals who understand that democracy is no accident. Humans are capable of both good and bad, but it is when we come together, that we stand a chance of bringing out the better parts of our erratic nature.
Suzy Goes See 