Two plays that investigate the divergence of self-interest and truth in public life.
The Great Man: Jack Barclay, great man of the Australian Labor Party, is dead. And with him has died the last remaining connection to the social reforms of 1970s Labor governments. New Labor is thriving in its place, proudly parading economic reform as the defining agenda for the new century. At his funeral family, friends and party faithful will gather to celebrate his life. Or will they? In the grand tradition of Australian public life, each stake an individual claim to Jack’s greatness and put a personal spin on his life and contribution to the nation. The Great Man is a wickedly comic tilt at politics, greed and the craving for personal identity.
Sanctuary: Robert ‘Bob’ King, an internationally renowned investigative journalist, has returned to his native Australia to retire to the relative isolation of Queensland. But the sanctuary he thought he had found himself is breached by a student about to publish King’s biography. Conflict erupts between the young idealist and the pragmatic realist as each challenges the other’s true values and motivations. A gripping story that builds in suspense to a thrilling climax, Sanctuary is a rare and successful attempt to illuminate the propaganda that is often called journalism.
