SUDS has opted to end this year with a bang. More accurately, they’ve ended it with several, all in the form of highly entertaining if wince-worthy slapstick comedy. Written and directed by Sam Hill-Wade and Tilda Wilkinson-Finch, the SUDS 2023 major production, A Corpse in the Cabinet, is a hilarious and well-executed satire that spans Australian politics, journalism, and punterdom. If you fancy Weekend at Bernie’s cross Black Mirror as performed by the Chaser, Erskineville’s PACT Centre is the place for you this week.
A Corpse in the Cabinet follows a nail biting federal election, with Desmond Chudmore (Nat Jensen), incumbent PM and leader of the National Democratic Purple Party (NDPP) seeking a third term in the top job against Paul Punge (Robert Hoang) of the People’s Popular Yellow Party (PPYP). Disaster strikes in the early hours of polling day when larrikin leader Chud is found dead at his desk. Chaos, as you can imagine, ensues.
Mali Lung’s Mariah, Pat Fuccilli’s Silas, and Rose Fitz’s Genevieve drive the plot of the production as Chud’s staffers, while Wayne-O (Georgie Eggleton) and Kelseigh “with a G” (Ruby Zupp) provide a slightly trite but overall amusing caricature of the Australian television news sideshow.
Lung’s Mariah carries one of the show’s most sophisticated moments in the second half. A weary, long-suffering staffer under the proverbial jackboot of the late Prime Minister, Mariah wrestles with feelings of resentment and disillusionment with the two-party system. Fuccilli, as Silas, delivers one of the most remarkable spit-takes we’ve ever seen, propelling a mouthful of fake spirits into a fine, even mist. We’d simply like to know how long he spent practising that one.
Also very worthy of mention was Charlie Papps as David DeMann, the featherbrained deputy leader of the NDPP who is asked to take on Chudmore’s election day responsibilities, and DeMann’s speechie Akiva, played by Violet Hull, who produces election slogans that leave USU campaign managers everywhere shaking.
An undeniable standout of the show was Hamish Lewis. Lewis portrays Dr. Hollis, a mad mortician perpetually pursued by the woke Australian Medical Association with accusations of malpractice, a sausage vendor with a penchant for Greek philosophy, and the ‘Blahtender’ of the Fullerton Hotel, a faithful servant who knows where the bodies are buried. Fast-talking and eccentric, Lewis brings each of his characters to life in a delightful way.
Anastasia Dougenis’ performance as the ever-earnest Bec from Narrabri also deserves commendation. Bec’s unwavering seriousness in the context of an otherwise extremely silly production felt slightly out of place at times. Nonetheless, Dougenis’ performance threw the material consequences of political charade into sharp relief in several moments, executing one of the play’s clear aims. Nat Jensen also deserves credit (and an ice pack) for their masochistic devotion to playing a corpse, reliably eliciting laughs from the audience. We sincerely hope their head is okay.
Woven into the play’s plot is a surprisingly substantive critique of Santos’ Narrabri Gas Project, and more broadly of the capture of our major parties by fossil fuel lobbyists, an undeniably important part of any conversation worth having about Australian politics. Hill-Wade and Wilkinson-Finch lean on subversion to weave a serious critique into an unserious format with great success, if bordering on the didactic at times.
The production’s crew also deserve praise. Arieta Varvaressos’ set design was creative in its use of the PACT’s large-for-student-theatre-sized stage and integrated seamlessly with the visuals and videography from Amelia Vogelsang and George McMillan respectively. While we had some difficulty suspending our disbelief with respect to the use of voicemails as mode of communication in the year of our lord 2023, Jennifer Gao’s sound design was another highlight.
Interestingly, your faithful reviewers arrived at different conclusions as the actors came up to take their final bow. While one saw the ending as a spiral into slapstick without a clear resolution, the other was moved by the poignancy of the play’s final scenes. To figure out who is right, we reckon you’ll just have to go down and see it.
A Corpse in a Cabinet is playing at the PACT Centre from the 29th of November to the 2nd of December. Tickets are available here.
