Nothing Personal

Ensemble audiences are always ready for a new play from David Williamson and most nights for this lengthier-than-usual season are already sold out. With the considerable added allure of Greta Scacchi in the lead role, this is a scheduling no-brainer. Kudos to the Ensemble for immediately following one brightly intelligent, smartly directed new Australian comedy/drama (Geoffrey Atherden’s Warning: Explicit Material) with another. Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry staged both excellently so he’s probably due for a Xmas rest.

Obviously in rude creative health, Williamson turns 70 in February. Despite an announced ‘retirement’ in 2005, he keeps adding to his many plays (over three dozen) and significant screenplays. Nothing Personal may not be top vintage, but it ends a busy year that has already seen Don Parties On at the MTC and the STC, When Dad Married Fury at the Metcalfe Playhouse, Perth and At Any Cost? (co-written with Mohamed Khadra) also at the harbour-front Ensemble.

Williamson’s theme this time is ‘generational change’, something he has no doubt heard much about himself. Scacchi plays Bea, “a publishing icon” (we are told twice) who runs the books and authors side of a large media conglomerate. Getting older, she flinches from new trends, hates ‘chic lit’, vampire novels and e-books, and she is feeling the scorn and exasperation of Naomi (Emma Jackson, impressive), the firm’s ambitious young marketing manager.

The two square off for an all-or-nothing clash. Bea leans heavily on her long-suffering assistant Roxanne (Julie Hudspeth) while Naomi flirts with Kelvin (Andrew McFarlane), their wealthy, womanising CEO, putting strains on her relationship with live-in boyfriend Simon (Matthew Moore). As well, both protagonists deal with difficult ‘generational changes’ of their own — Bea with her angrily estranged daughter (Rachael Coopes), and Naomi with her mortally ill mother (Jeanie Drynan). These side issues, though important to Williamson’s overall concept, are far less assured, more ‘soapy’, than the office politicking.

Kilmurry’s direction is swift and exciting: scenes merge and flow unexpectedly on Steven Butler’s stylised setting with its see-through furniture, walls and props.

Greta Scacchi holds centre stage as the troubled Bea, always ready for a fight. Delivering her lines with an edgy filmic naturalism, she moves her character through a most convincing journey. She demands equal commitment from her audiences, so very, very close to the action at the Ensemble.

On the night I attended, Scacchi stopped the show during Act One and insisted a cuddling couple in the front row leave before she would continue. It was a heart-stopping moment. The shamed couple mutely agreed to keep still and the action continued. Scacchi personally delivered a handwritten note to them during the interval and they watched the second act from the back row.

Such are the joys of up-close theatre. I’ve never heard such an interval buzz.

Frank Hatherley

Imaes: Emma Jackson as Naomi and Greta Scacchi as Bea; Emma Jackson and Andrew McFarlane; Rachael Coopes and Greta Scacchi - in Nothing Personal. Photographer: Natalie Boog.

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