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POSTED: 25 JULY 2009

Dealing with Clair, by Martin Crimp

(Griffin Theatre Company | SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross, Sydney | Until 15 Aug)

Least-trusted-profession lists frequently rank real-estate agents among the forerunners, usually with used-car salesmen and lawyers. After seeing Martin Crimp’s Dealing With Clair, which opened at the Stables Theatre last night, you’ve got to feel a bit sorry for those who choose to deal in the frantic and emotionally charged job of making a damp-ridden basement flat sound like 24 square metres of heaven.

Well ... at least you feel for Clair.

Wisely updated for the current Sydney real-estate market (the original 1988 play was based in England), Crimp’s observations of how easily ethics can be reinterpreted or abandoned in the face of possible monetary gain are as timely as ever.

Mike (Ed Wightman) and Liz (Sarah Becker) are selling their house, and Clair (Laura Brent) is the young and upcoming real-estate agent employed to the task. Mike and Liz express their desire to be totally fair and scrupulous, but as the mysterious James (Boris Brkic) tries to gazump their first offer, suddenly things don’t seem so black and white.

Clair desperately tries to juggle the capricious demands of all involved, but as she discovers, James has far more sinister motives than a base in the city.

It appears a distinct pleasure for the actors to play such thoroughly flawed and frequently despicable characters. Most enjoyable are Becker and Wightman as the pretentious and frequently oblivious couple Liz and Mike. Witnessing their ‘principles’, such as they are, crumble like a rotting windowsill is hilarious, uncomfortable and all-too-believable.

Brkic brilliantly portrays the arrogant and distinctly unnerving James, and his interactions with Brent in particular crackle with menace. Brent is excellent as Clair, evoking the overconfidence and certainty that only being young and beautiful provide.

Once again the miniscule space at the Stables has been put to excellent use, with congratulations to William Bobby Stewart for his design. Just seeing those Kennards boxes gave me chilling flashbacks of the last time I moved.

Director Cristabel Sved expresses her amazement that Dealing With Clair has never been performed before in Australia. For the first Act, and most of the second, I would definitely agree that this play is an early Martin Crimp ‘gem’. The wordplay is fast and funny, the satire ferocious and the characters expertly drawn.

The last fifteen minutes or so are a minor disappointment, however. The telephone ‘monologue’ between James (Brkik) and Clair’s mother seems protracted and somewhat superfluous, and the final scenes anti-climactic by comparison with the sharpness of earlier ones.

Despite this, Dealing With Clair is an extremely well performed and produced piece. It is a disconcerting reminder of the speed in which the moral high ground can become a muddied swamp.