Review: The Pig Iron People

Pig iron is a crude, brittle product, not malleable or ductile — it is cast into molds and has a relatively low melting point. This could describe many of the characters in John Doyle’s first foray into playwriting, The Pig Iron People.

Set in inner-city suburbia, the time is 1996, the day of John Howard’s first election victory. Nick (Glenn Hazeldine), an ex-teacher and would-be writer, moves into (groan) Liberal Street in the hope of starting his life anew after the loss of his marriage and, briefly, his sanity.

Here he finds an array of characters, all members of the generation who spent their formative young adult years under the leadership of Robert “Pig Iron Bob” Menzies. They're set in their ways — and their parking spaces — and Nick develops rocky relationships with his neighbours, and uses snippets of their lives, colourful language and opinions as inspiration for his writing.

Nick also meets April (Caroline Craig), an aspiring actress who tasted brief fame as a soap star before her character was unceremoniously killed off. They begin a tentative romance under the watchful, and often judgemental, eyes of their neighbours.

At first, the comedy is fast-paced and broadly drawn, as the neighbours display their idiosyncrasies, prejudices and eccentricities — at times by the songs of their era. The characters are almost caricature. It is undoubtedly hilarious, even if the laughter they evoke is occasionally the “Oh-my-God-I-can’t-believe-he/she-said-that” variety.

As the story unfolds, narrated in fourth-wall-breaking style by Nick, we start to witness the stories behind the characters, made real by Doyle with empathy and tolerance for their flaws. It is this entry into their personal worlds, their demons, regrets and failings — often as a result of their own inflexibility — that elevates the tale beyond simple comedy or satire.

The actors are superb in bringing these personalities to life. Glenn Hazeldine as Nick has the daunting task of not only engaging with the audience, but also delving into the action, and he does this with ease and charisma. Caroline Craig adroitly conveys the vulnerability and spirit of April. The awkwardness of the developing love story between Nick and April is almost painful at times.

But it is the ‘Pig Iron People’ who really shine. Director Craig Ilott has skilfully built the characters from the initial larger-than-life outlines to fleshed-out individuals with subtler humour and pathos. Claude the truckie (Bruce Venables) and his wife Rosie (Jackie Weaver) embody the simple Aussie couple, and the affection and background to their tale is both sweet and tragic.

Max Cullen’s Kurt, the ranting far-right-wing, eccentric German is commanding whenever he enters the scene. His verbal attack on April is surprising and vicious, and slightly unnerving in that it seems to come out of nowhere.

The most compelling performances are those of Danny Adcock (John “Jack” Howard) and Judi Farr, his bitter wife Jeanette (groan again). The ferociousness of their hatred for one another, and the unfolding reasons for this, are stunning.

But the play is less effective in the attempted link between the influence of the politics and values of Menzies’ era on the neighbours’ generation and the impending Howard rule. Other than passing comments about the comparison between the leaders and the return to a more socially conservative time, this idea is not fully explored. Perhaps it is too soon to speculate on the long-term generational effects of a Government that has only relatively recently lost power.

The set design is brilliant and perfectly complements the action. The deceptively simple use of projection and tracks keeps the action fluid and works wonderfully.

Hugely satisfying as a comedy, less so as sociopolitical comment, The Pig Iron People will undoubtedly produce varying reactions. But if the purpose of theatre is to entertain, provoke, and elicit thought beyond the curtain call, John Doyle has hit the mark.