The Great Australian Disclaimer

The temptation to laugh at or with Ivor Azzanego (Andrew Hondromatidis) is often difficult to resist in this play, even though it is dealing with some serious issues that are essentially no laughing matter. The play does not make light of these problems and the text provides an accurate depiction of the daily hypocrisy practiced by people when their attitudes and beliefs regarding gender, sexuality and race are challenged.

Ivor and his business partner are looking for a receptionist and interview an array of unsuitable candidates. The result is repeated episodes of plain discrimination in the workplace, and the depiction of scenarios that are all too uncomfortably real. Hondromatidis portrays Ivor’s bigotry with amazing skill and he is disturbingly convincing. Ivor’s inability to disguise his bigotry usually gets the better of him and provides some well delivered comic moments throughout the performance.

However, stereotypes abound in this production and the characters are sometimes reduced to mere caricatures. An insight into the complexity of the lives of the job seekers, and their potential employers, could have provided the opportunity to balance the humour in these situations with pathos. Ivor is an amusing and likeable villain but the kind of hate and mistrust that his behaviour encourages could be more fully or sensitively explored. The play presents a clever structure and ends with a delightful and unexpected twist.

Patricia Di Risio