All the world’s a stage and all our lecturers are merely playas

Monday’s performance was the 10th in a series of very ambitious works staged by the award-winning production team at the Sydney Law School.

While the troupe has made a solid name for itself over the past few hundred years, this performance saw a welcome new emphasis on cast diversity, moving away from the notable white (sorry, noticeably white) leading men of previous decades.

Perhaps constrained by the unfailingly dull subject matter, the matinee session of “Criminal Procedural Law in NSW” required more engagement than the attendees were willing to provide. A highly conceptual work, the performance required stamina and conviction in the audience, not just in the sense that many would have preferred an actual criminal conviction to remaining in that theatre any longer. The costuming was, I think, one of the standout components of the piece. An all black ensemble was a clever visual representing of the deep depression the audience would be only too familiar with, and reflected the darkness of feelings of youth imprisonment and detainment. Overall, it was unfortunate that the textual theme of search warrants provided no practical understanding of how to search for a way out of future performances. Rating – Probably a 5 out of 10 stars.

While the performance offered interesting themes, its unnecessary length undermined the capacity for the audience to engage with it.  Hot tip, have a lawyer on call to bail you out.