The Removalists at Metanoia Theatre

The Removalists at Metanoia Theatre

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Posted 2016-11-20 by Nadine Cresswell-Myattfollow

Thu 17 Nov 2016 - Sun 27 Nov 2016



Having overshot my destination, using Siri, I also missed out on being able to park my car on brightly lit Sydney Road. The nearest I could get to the busy thoroughfare was up an alleyway. It was close enough and hopefully I would make the timeslot for the play The Removalists in the Brunswick Mechanic Hall.

Rushing up the cobblestones my head was also racing. Bakers Dozen Theatre Company is a group of some of Melbourne's finest up and coming young actors, writers and directors. So what was this decidedly young group doing returning to a play that someone old enough to be their grandaddy, David Williamson , wrote in 1971. Gosh that is now 45 years ago.

In its day the play was considered a microcosm of 1970s Australian society especially in its focus on misogyny and police corruption.

But things have changed right?

There are now many strategies in place to weed out corrupt cops. But violence against women? Still very much in the news.


Trouble is that while the issue of domestic violence is hitting the headlines it is only unearthing what has always been there.

And the scary thing about this new rendition of The Removalists is that the director, Lara Kerestes, simply called for a few telling props, a Mac notebook and a huge flat-screened TV to show that even in 2016 David Williamson topic of domestic violence still works perfectly.

The plot involves two attractive young women who walk into their local police station to report a case of domestic violence against the younger of the two sisters.

As she reveals her bruises the sergeant does not really see her battered flesh, not the violence that has been perpetrated against her but a chance for some sex.

He figures if he can help this young woman leave her wife-beating husband then her older sister will be so grateful that "he'll be in like Flynn" to coin his own term.

The second half of the play is set in the young woman's apartment as she attempts to move out.



Her husband is a threatening presence in his tight little footy shorts. We soon find out that he loves his footie and his beer and his child. But his attitude to women, just like that of the detective is obscene. He is full of entitlements about what his wife should and should not do and his right of ownership to belt her for the minutest of reasons. He had bashed her the previous night because she didn't empty the kitchen rubbish bin. He didn't want their young child exposed to such filth. That was his excuse.

But as we know from such cases there is no logic. It could be refusing to make a cup of tea for a partner or even looking at them the wrong way. Violence such as bashing and rape are simply manifestations of the deepest and most horrendous forms of misogyny.

In the play, the police bash the husband and worse but what is highlighted is the camaraderie of all the men in relation to viewing these women as sexual objects.

Bakers's Dozen have done a sterling job in bringing this oldie to current audiences and impressing through the props that this message is as current as ever.

The fact that it is not recently written play only enforces the message further that domestic violence, abuse against women both physical and verbal is a total scourge on our society.

The theatre is intimate and the men aggressive and intimidating. The acting is simply wonderful. No doubt they are lovely young men in real life but their characters are unrelentingly despicable on stage.

So hats off to Josiah Lulham, Patrick Durnan Silva, Brendan Barnett, Mathew Connell.

The female actors,Emma Cox and Hannah Monson, are also equally deserving of accolades. Noting here that is as hard to play the quiet object of desire as it is to play the outspoken and the brazen.

The stage design by Daniel Moulds was particularly clever in that with a few small interchanges it served brilliantly as both an office in the first half and then later as an apartment with the removalist able to realistically shift furniture shaped objects around. The use of projected images, especially those involving innuendo and sexual violence against women cemented the play's powerful message.

Often in a production there is a stand-out performance but in The Removalist everyone played their role to perfection. Although there was a slight miscasting of the furniture removalist. His lines have him saying he is a seasoned removalist but the youthful face and baseball cap on the wrong way point to him being exceedingly young. He played for laughs and got them but his character just did not gel through no fault of his own.

The play quite knocked the stuffing out of the audience. Watching The Removalist is an intense experience. The actors are very much in your face and are unrelenting in their stereotypes, particularly the men.

Moving back to my car down the now dark alleyway I felt a little shaken. I found myself aware of every footstep, every cough and every sound of nearby drunken revelry nearby. Last year the Reclaim the Night protest, which demands an end to male violence against women, was held outside the nearby Brunswick Town Hall.

David Williamson's timeless play conveys the same message. Women cannot feel safe even on a 5min stroll to their car in a Brunswick alleyway. The premise of David Williamson's 1971 is alive and well. Wishing female victims of male violence were the same.

Performances are on November 17th (opening night), 18th, 19th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th

All performances commence at 8:00pm excluding the Sunday matinees on the 20th and 27th which commence at 5:00pm.

You can book here.


#brunswick
#theatre
#theatre -reviews
#november
!date 17/11/2016 -- 27/11/2016
%wnmelbourne
111076 - 2023-06-12 15:28:44

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