Money and Friends
By David Williamson
Directed by Sandra Bates
Ensemble Theatre, Sydney
Reviewed by Brendan Doyle
If you have the money ($35 for a regular ticket) and friends who are equally well-off, or are Ensemble subscribers, you can join the north shore couples in the bar before the show and look out onto the million-dollar launches that sit smugly below.
Then you can watch a play about four wealthy couples in their forties who spend their summers at their beach houses at Crystal Inlet, "to escape the monotony of their water views of Sydney Harbour", as one of the characters says. "Welcome to Williamson's world of wonderfully familiar characters" says the program note. And I guess they are familiar, if you happen to be wealthy professionals like them.
This satirical comedy, as Williamson calls it, has been his most popular play in terms of audience numbers, and this revival at the Ensemble is a sure-fire money-maker. It tells the story of Peter (Michael Ross) who is being sued by the bank for his brother's debts and stands to lose everything, unless he can raise the money for an appeal. Will his friends who gather at Crystal Inlet each lend him $10,000? In the past, Peter has always been a good listener. Now, with his financial worries and the realisation that this may be his last summer at the inlet, he decides to tell his friends what he really thinks of them. And it's not all that pleasant.
This is the basis for a comedy of manners which unfolds via the usual Williamson witty one-liners, and which reveals the depths of hypocrisy of these well-heeled folk. And the characters do condemn themselves, although there is not a word of political discussion, and it all seems to happen in a sort of social vacuum.
This is hardly merciless satire, however. In fact, what annoyed me about this production is that the cast have been told to play it for laughs, which is unnecessary. The script is funny enough. You don't have to lay it on with a trowel. With the play itself teetering on the brink of self-indulgence, I felt this production pushed it firmly over the edge, and I had the impression of watching, at best, good television.