The Trade

It’s either an urban myth or a truism that chicks (even old ones) love tradies. The Tasmanian Theatre Co. presentation of The Trade set out to make us all, if not like, at least relate to, painters Steve (Andrew Casey), Stu (Matt Wilson) and Gavin (Scott Farrow). As part of its 2012 season, Tas. Theatre Co. presented an Australian comedy which is described as “very funny and very rude” by co-director Charles Parkinson. With actors Casey, Wilson, and Scott Farrow, director Guy Hooper milked the play for every laugh. Written by three blokes, Aidan Fennessy, Jim Russell and Marty Sheargold,The Trade worked because of the chemistry, camaraderie and excellent comic timing of these young but experienced actors. The blokey-ness, including coarse language and crude-ish themes and humor, should have been offensive, especially for the women in the audience. The secret was timing and the combination of actors. Called “a bleakly comic insight into the humdrum lives of your common or garden variety house painters” The Tradeis a hilarious play, with a few thinking moments thrown in. What happened? Not much, in the way of work, when the three painters enter the house for a day’s painting. Between coats of paint and seemingly endless cups of tea, the three men ramble on about what should happen in the other blokes’ life, cajole and goad each other, and show that the bloke bond can be deep and shallow at the same time. Well known to and loved by Tasmanian audiences, these cheeky chaps behave like naughty little boys, and the audience loved them, almost as much as they appeared to love working with each other. Is bloke theatre, wildly funny but slightly meaningful, a genre? Bring on some more.  

Merlene Abbott