Face to Face

‘Face to Face’ was written in 2000 by one of Australia’s most admired dramatists, David Williamson. It is part of the ‘restorative justice’ series, ‘Jack Manning Trilogy’.
Melbourne born David was raised in Bairnsdale. On first graduating in mechanical engineering, he wrote sketches for the Engineers' Student Revue. He went on to be a university lecturer, writing the occasional play as early as 1967. He became a full-time playwright in the late 1990s.

This wonderful production can be seen at the Stirling Theatre, Morris Place, Innaloo. The one and a half hour show (the director has wisely decided not to have an interval) starts at 8.00 pm, with performances until Saturday the 26^th May.

         It is Sunday morning in the offices of Baldoni Construction. The highly-strung company accountant, Therese (Claire MacRae) and the young attractive personal assistant, Julie (Tamiah Bantum) are setting out the office chairs for a special meeting.

        An employee, Nookie, has regularly picked upon one of the company’s young scaffolders, the slightly retarded Glen (Mathew Young). Spiteful comments also flowed from the other staff members on a regular basis. In the end Glen, who had suffered enough, had a massive punch up with the bully. This resulted in his dismissal from the job that he loved. Heart broken at losing his employment, Glen decided to smash into the back of the brand new Mercedes belonging to his boss, Greg (Chris Henderson), thus causing the employer whiplash. 

        Faced with going to court, and possible jail, Glen’s caring mother, Maureen (Michelle Dolden) has requested a face-to-face meeting with Greg in the presence of a mediator, community conference convener Jack Manning (Alan O’Neill).

       Just as the girls finish laying out the seating, Greg and his loving, but tolerant wife, Claire (Janet Weston) arrive; swiftly followed by the foreman, Richard (Gino Cataldo) and the ‘immigrant worker’, Luka (Alex Littlewood).

       The proceedings commence, and it soon becomes quite clear that Glen has trouble controlling his anger, having to be repeatedly calmed down by his good friend and supporter, Barry (Braden Scott).

      With so much bottled-up anger, can there be any chance of a resolution or even a compromise for poor Glen?

This is 21 year old, Brendan Ellis’s first foray as director, but with the assistance of Anka ÄŒikić, the result was magnificent. Brendan has employed the Mike Leigh method of direction, initially sending his cast away for three or four weeks to study their characters, and to fully absorb their traits and qualities. This allowed the dialogue to flow naturally, giving a huge depth and realism to every personality. The cast, many of whom are relatively new to the stage, have done a believable and truly superlative job, The play is 90 minutes long, without an interval,  but the time flew by as this gripping tale unfurled and gobsmacking revelations were exposed.

The cast chemistry in this intense character study was outstanding. One minute the audience would be laughing, and seconds later shaking their heads in total disbelief at the attitudes and revelations.

Very highly recommended. I look forward to seeing the other two plays in this trilogy.