The video tape looks awful, the female characters mostly just whine and do the ironing, the script mostly seems to be cut and pasted speeches. But it's bold, it's grown up, it doesn't speak down to it's audience.
The structure and story feel like Bob Ellis (I'm sure Stephen Ramsay brought a lot to the table, I'm just not as familiar with his work). It's a solid story - from the death of John Curtin to the 1955 split. A party that reaches great heights but is torn apart by communism, Catholicism, hatred, loyalty and the ego of Doc Evatt.
Lots of yelling and carrying on. Graham Rouse is a good actor but doesn't feel like Fadden. I thought Ed Devereaux and Simon Chilvers were particularly excellent. Menzies twirls the moustache a bit too often - the piece is more successful when he's more three dimensional. There is a lot of shouty acting. Some lines feel pure Ellis, but most of the dialogue feels culled from historical books.
It's fast paced - well edited. Dramatic. Raises so many issues - what is the role of the church in politics? How does one fight a foe like communism? How much loyalty do you show an incompetent leader?
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