Outstanding indie company New Theatre are tackling one of celebrated Australian playwright David Williamson’s most challenging works, The Removalists, running for a month from April 20.
The confronting, disturbing work addresses domestic violence against women, meaning the play is uncomfortably close to the daily news headlines right now. The show is set in a crime-ridden inner-city suburb, and we witness a woman abused by her husband, the sister trying to convince her to leave, and the cops who intervene. A satirical study of authoritarianism and social conditioning, it was a thunderbolt when it originally bowed in 1971. Tragically, it remains as relevant as ever, with statistics revealing that calls to police regarding domestic violence soared during lockdown.
Johann Walraven directs this new production, which casts Lloyd Allison-Young, Laurence Coy, Xavier Coy, Alfie Gledhill, Eliza Nicholls and Shannon Ryan. “David Williamson’s The Removalists hangs around Australian Theatre like a creepy uncle,” says Walraven. “People of colour are being killed by the police in Australia and around the world with an almost brazen abandon, and [our prime minister] says the women of our country are lucky not to be ‘met with bullets’ for standing up for their rights. The fact that a play written 50 years ago still so vividly paints an Australia that hasn't changed, that its characters are still walking among us today, is a chilling realisation. And one that is immensely rewarding to explore.”
Love theatre? Also check out Claudel at the Sydney Opera House.
