The President – REVIEW
Image: THE PRESIDENT, Sydney Theatre Company. Credit: Daniel Boud
This production of The President is a first time collaboration between Dublin’s Gate Theatre and the Sydney Theatre Company, and shares two theatrical giants: Ireland’s Olwen Fouere and Australia’s Hugo Weaving.
Written in 1975 by Austrian novelist and playwright Thomas Bernhard, often referred to as one of the most significant German-language authors in the latter 20th century, this is the first English-language production of the work.
Set in an unnamed country, possibly eastern Europe, at an unknown time, the play deals with the final days of a dictatorship of a small country.
The President examines the mechanisms of power and how it is manipulated by personalities driven by ego, hubris, neurosis and paranoia.
Outside the Presidential Palace, the citizens are revolting against the regime, as the president has been doing to his people for the past twenty years what he hasn’t been doing to his wife.
We open with the first lady (Olwen Fouere) in her room as she prepares for another day of turmoil outside the palace gates. She is distracted by the dress chosen by her dresser, Miss Frolick (Julie Forsyth), while the president is receiving a massage off set.
The first lady quickly takes out her growing paranoia and self obsession on Miss Frolick, while explaining that she fears her son is a member of the anarchists who are systematically killing members of the ruler’s closest circle.
Towards the end of the first half, the president (Hugo Weaving) appears briefly for a cold exchange with his wife.
The next we see him he is in a luxury hotel in Estoril, Portugal, a haven for rich and shady people.
He is with a young actress (Kate Gilmore) of unknown talent but possessing a voluptuous body and an appreciation of her situation.
As champagne is consumed, the president’s hubris rises and the truth comes out about his relationship with his wife and his country; he regrets that he does not rule a larger country, and reveals that the first lady is compliant in his affairs to cover up her own.
Back at the Presidential Palace, the atmosphere is at breaking point; assassinations continue and the president fears he is next in line.
We are within the regime’s final days but all the characters seem unable to address the inevitable, frozen by their respective lack of contact with reality.
When the end comes, it comes as a shock, even though we were expecting it.
The President is not an easy play. While it offers many laughs, it is not a warm and fuzzy text and it deals with two unlikeable main characters.
Essentially two monologues, the lead characters are surrounded by satellites that provide much relief with various amounts of sight gags.
Director, Tom Creed manages a wordy script, keeping the pace while maintaining tension in this increasingly paranoiac and claustrophobic world.
Miss Frolick is the only character with a name, and is with the first lady for most of the first half, more than holding her own with only a couple of spoken lines and plenty of gestures.
Olwen Fourere is formidable as the first lady and is impressive as she commands the stage in an almost hour long monologue.
The only criticism is that her delivery is all on one level, full intensity.
Hugo Weaving as the president is only present with her for a few minutes, and it is a pity that we don’t see more of the two together. However, it’s the point of the script that they are two isolated characters.
Like Fourere, Weaving commands the stage across all his scenes.
Danny Adcock excels across the multiple roles of masseur, officer, attendant and butcher.
One of the outstanding comedic moments includes Helmut Bakaitis as a waiter serving the president and his ingenue.
With no lines of substance to deliver, Kate Gilmore makes the actress her own, using a few gestures to let us know she is aware of the role she is playing with an increasingly uncouth Weaving.
Alan Dukes and Tony Cogin have four roles between them and always hit the mark as foils or accomplices to the regime.
Set designer, Elizabeth Gadsby has created a set that is striking in its simplicity and adaptability. Three walls that at first appear to be mirrors, become translucent with projections of surroundings.
Stephan Gregory’s music and sound is simpatico with the story and unfolding drama, relying on martial flourishes that work well with Sinead McKenna’s lighting design.
The President takes time to absorb and will be spoken about for weeks, especially the end scene, one of the most impactful moments on a Sydney stage, ever.
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