Welcome to the 21st century; a world of constant video and computer surveillance, where hidden secrets are stored and revealed at painfully critical moments. Big Brother is watching you. All the time. Everywhere.
Set in a world of fussy officiousness, of mountains of unnecessary intrusive government paperwork and omnipotent monitoring, Geoffrey Atherden’s (Mother and Son, Grass Roots) Liberty, Equality, Fraternity is a frightening and thought provoking dark comedy about human rights, hidden secrets, and a hapless individual versus a faceless government department. While witty and funny, it also raises some very disturbing issues.
As the audience is seated we join Orlagh (Caroline Brazier) as she undergoes a traumatic ordeal. At first there’s not much to see: the set is a pale, anonymous room, sparsely decorated: skylights, a table, a couple of chairs, a computer and a huge TV screen. The audience is the ‘fourth wall’ of anonymous departmental observers. On the screen we see Orlagh waiting, and waiting, becoming nervous and stressed. Then, suddenly, she appears onstage.
Orlagh is ‘voluntarily’ detained for questioning regarding possible terrorist links. She is an ordinary innocent citizen, a suburban housewife and mother whose primary concern, particularly at first, is that her daughters Samantha and Hannah are picked up from school and that her husband is OK.
But to her irritated bewilderment her ordeal has only just begun. Enter Arky (Andrew Ryan) wheeling a giant trolley of documents; his maddening Yes Minister–ish obsessive focus on tiny, trivial details and the correct filling out of forms further evokes the feel of a Brazil-like nightmare.
Later in the piece, Helmut Bakaitis as Arky’s boss (or is he?) makes an elegant, mysterious appearance, and Orlagh’s family secrets are revealed as the line of questioning becomes more obtrusive. Will she be tortured? Will she be broken by the questioning? Will she ever be released?
Both Brazier and Ryan give tremendous performances under Shannon Murphy’s inspired direction, resulting in a tightly disciplined partnership featuring biting repartee. Playing the script straight ensures plenty of laughs, at the same time evoking a chilling atmosphere. Orlagh becomes an ‘Everywoman’, winning the audience’s respect with her verbal parrying of Arky’s maddening questions.
The monotonous office lighting is mostly consistent, and muzak plays throughout; though allegedly soothing, it quickly becomes annoying, both for Orlagh and the audience. Various computer projections flash up from time to time on the large rear screen.
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity is a provocative play that may well make you think twice before posting photos on Facebook or sending an email; it will certainly have you glancing nervously at the ubiquitous, unobtrusive CCTV cameras that watch you everywhere you go.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
By Geoffrey Atherden
Director: Shannon Murphy
Assistant Director: James Culbert
Designer: Michael Hankin
Lighting Designer/AV Designer: Verity Hampson
Sound Designer: Stephen Toulmin
Wardrobe Coordinator: Terri Kibbler
Dialect Coach: Natasha McNamara
Cast: Helmut Bakaitis, Caroline Brazier and Andrew Ryan
Running time: 90 mins (approx) no interval
Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli
7 February – 9 March
