Aussies don’t just produce great actors and musicians, but they also make great theatre occasionally. In fact, Sydney is home to some of the world’s most spectacular live performances and Melbourne is often referred to as the ‘East End’. Some of the best playwrights also come out of Australia and one who’s quite notable is Mother and Son sitcom writer Geoffrey Atherden. Atherden put his penmanship to work on a play called Liberty Equality Fraternity which was staged by the Ensemble Theatre Company in Sydney, Australia just a few years ago.
Starring Caroline Brazier and Andrew Ryan, with also a brief appearance from Helmut Bakaitus, Liberty Equality Fraternity is a comedic play taking place in one location for the entire duration, consisting of mostly two characters in a constant ‘back and forth’. Brazier is ‘Orlagh’ and she’s been brought in and detained in an interrogation room by what is supposed to be an Australian government security agency. Enter Ryan who plays ‘Arkie’, the government employee is who meant to question her and get to the bottom of, well, whatever it is he and his superiors assume she’s a part of, what she knows, or what she doesn’t know. Orlagh is ignorant to the reasons as to why she’s been brought in for questioning and Arkie’s questioning doesn’t help matters as everything he asks seems to have no real relevance to anything. Atherden pens a script that takes the actors in circles in a hilarious ride of humorous dialogue, with more serious underlying themes than are initially apparent.
Atherden’s writing is the one true foundation of this piece, as the two actors square off in their knife fight in front of the eager audience. The play was written and then so designed for an intimate space, as the audience is close and the stage is set and made up as a plain room with two doors and TV screen to show Orlagh and the audience the ‘evidence’ the agency has accumulated on her. Both Brazier and Ryan have their comedic moments, throwing in a hint of sarcasm here and there or delivering their lines just right to land their timing. Brazier is gifted with some moments of a much more serious tone, though this is still a credit to the writing and she accommodates the material well enough during those parts of the play. The design by Michael Hankin though simplistic is necessary and functional and not too tight so as to not allow the actors to move about freely.
Liberty Equality Fraternity will make viewers question how much information about themselves they decide to put online.
Liberty Equality Fraternity will make viewers question how much information about themselves they decide to put online. As is often said, the internet is forever, and Atherden surely wanted to get this message across when he wrote it even if he decided to do so with comedy. The play has since closed, as this was in 2013 but it’s still available for stream on Digital Theatre. It also available for rent on the Australian Theatre Live website at an affordable price.
