Perfect arrangement

Anna Sokolova
1 hour ago
3 min read

New Theatre Sydney, February 2026

Presented as part of Mardi Gras

The review

Set up in the 1950s in the States, the Witch Hunt time - the Lavender Scare, when the US government's agency systematically persecuted LGBTQ+ employees.

The stage, furnished as a flat in a slick style, is set as a sitcom studio, with an old-fashioned camera in the corner and a lit-up sign “Applause” above it. Blue, red and white filling the space are merciless. Quoting the director, the prime colours chosen here to highlight, to expose, the scenography draws from mid-century interiors and Bauhaus lineage, not as nostalgia but as ideology. This approach is the signature of Patrick Kennedy’s work - the arrangement that is not a background but a big part of the story, where palette and geometry are not just a framework but the key to the work.

Costumes are bringing up the feel of the era even more, softening the hues, with one exception. Black and bright red of the most elegant garment, hat and gloves - a perfect outfit for a sharp, smart, open-minded, sarcastic, brave flow of power in the shape of a woman, Barbara (impossible to look away, Lucinda Jurt). A perfect figure who was a final force for a point of no return in the life of the small household.

Bob (Luke Visentin @luke_visentin) and Millie (Jordan Thompson @jordiethompson), two U.S. State Department employees, appear as a perfect family, having close friends literally next door - Jim (Brock Cramond @brock.john.alan) and Norma (Dominique Purdue @dominiquepurdue), another exemplary-looking couple. Married to each other for the world around, they are devoted to each other’s partner. Kim and Bob, and Millie with Norma, have been couples for years, are lucky to create their little world, yet undiscovered by the outside.

The thunderstorm is coming though. Norma and Bob are government agency employees tasked to identify and report “sexually abnormal”. And Bob’s boss, Theodore Sunderson (Huxley Forras), with his wife Kitty (Brooke Ryan), are regular visitors to the household.

Their life is built in two layers. The top one is a polished, pretentious, well-rehearsed one over the years. There, the men are dominating and patronising women subtly at every convenient occasion. The misogynistic comments are sharp as needles, adding a firm base layer for feminist-style fight, which women are pushed to take, additionally to the Lavender threat.

Women left to a nearly grotesque chat about nothing - three actresses make this nonsense precise and funny. Smart and content Norma, light-hearted Millie and quite a narrow-minded - at first sight - Kitty are an excellently orchestrated ensemble to watch. Gestures, poses, tones of voice when surprised or disguised are arranged like a music score.

Beside that, there is another life, warm, cozy, where body language is transformed to that of love, trust and desire, framed by the same soulless colourful arrangement.

The narrative is compelling, not hard to follow, But it would not be Kennedy’s work if there were not be a subtle but powerful layer, not so obvious at first. There is a theme continued from last year's outstanding production of “The Flea”. The destructive power of the System. The power that is only scary when it openly destroys, but chillying terryfying when it slowly converts people’s souls, poisons and transforms them little by little, barely noticed.

When the colourful doll house was deserted and left abandoned like a dried-out shell of a nut, it was not entirely empty. There was someone unnoticeably mutated who has remained in the world commanded by the System.