Review: Housework at the Drama Theatre (Sydney Theatre Company)
Review by Carly Fisher
Politics, gender inequality and the often invisible labour that keeps institutions running collide in Housework, Sydney Theatre Company’s latest production, with plenty of questions about the hidden costs and ultimate value of it all. Written by Emily Steel and directed by Shannon Rush, the play certainly has plenty to say and is executed in a superbly polished production with a cast that knows how to make the most of its comic potential. That said, it is also a show that made me wish that it had pushed just a bit further to really get to the deeper roots of our political system and what it asks of its players.
The production’s greatest strength is its ensemble. Emily Taheny is particularly exceptional, stealing the show with a performance that balances comic precision with a convincing sense of weariness. She brings an immediacy but also a sense of authority to the role that is perfectly emblematic of so many of the people behind the scenes who really make our political system tick. Her delivery of this character is so well embedded in realism that watching her in this role feels so perfectly natural.
The rest of the cast are similarly well matched to the material. The characters are largely well realised, with enough individual personality to keep the political machinery from becoming a collection of interchangeable talking heads. There is a pleasing sense of rhythm between the performers, and Rush’s direction allows the comedy to land without rushing past it. Similarly, the big ‘smack’ lines are given the air that they need to really pack a punch…I was just left wanting more of these!
Overall, there is a strong sense of control in this production and that extends to teh brilliant production design.Ailsa Paterson’s work is immaculate, creating a world that feels polished, purposeful and entirely at home on the Sydney Opera House stage. The visual language is carefully considered, and the design contributes significantly to the production’s confidence. Combined with an intricate lighting design by Nigel Levings, the Drama Theatre looked beautiful and played opulently - it was perfectly suggestive of being at Parliament without needing to be too literal about the scenery.
Steel’s script is at its most compelling when it examines the relationship between personal conviction and the systems in which people are required to operate. Housework asks important questions about the compromises demanded by political life, the unequal expectations placed on women, and the consequences of trying to make meaningful change from within institutions that have their own priorities.
These questions feel especially timely and important - lets see more productions that place women’s health research inequality so firmly within the conversation please! The historical and ongoing exclusion of women from medical research is an issue that deserves far more attention, and seeing it given space on stage is a genuine strength of this work. Of the two central explorations of gender inequality - in health and in politics - arguably the health debate is the more effective, offering a subject with considerable potential for both intellectual and emotional weight.
The other narrative, which examines inequality in politics and the workplace, is also worthwhile. Yet this is where Housework occasionally feels as though it stops just short of its full potential. The script is engaging and frequently funny, but it could use a few more moments of genuine dramatic force. A couple of substantial, punchy monologues — particularly for Kelly and Anna — might have given the characters a deeper interior life and allowed the audience to sit with the cost of the choices being made.
This is not to suggest that the production lacks substance. It certainly does not. Rather, there are moments when the material gestures towards a more penetrating examination of power, sacrifice and the compromises women are expected to make, only to move on before those ideas have fully settled. The characters are compelling enough to make us want more from them, and that is both the play’s achievement and its frustration.
There is also a missed opportunity in the depth of characterisation of Indira Naidoo’s roles. Both are intriguing presences within the production, but so little is given to them. More time spent exploring their motivations and the ways they intersect with the central characters might have brought an additional layer of complexity to the play.
Still, there is much to enjoy here. Rush has assembled a production that is assured, lively and technically accomplished, and the cast deliver the material with real commitment. The comedy is well judged, the design is excellent, and the subject matter is important enough to make Housework a worthwhile addition to the current theatrical landscape.
Ultimately, this is a production that gets about 80 per cent of the way there. It is an enjoyable night at the theatre, and one that offers plenty to think about. But with just a little more punch in the writing it could have been the kind of play that audiences find themselves discussing long after they have left the theatre.
Even so, the season is an excellent reflection of the direction Mitchell Butel is taking Sydney Theatre Company - this year has felt like the good old STC again! There is a welcome sense of energy and ambition in the work, and Housework demands its audiences to be paying attention, and I think that that is a great accomplishment of the work. It may not quite deliver the unforgettable theatrical statement it so could have become, but it is a production with the right questions, the right performers and more than enough promise to make the next chapter of Butel’s Artistic Directorship an exciting one.
