Review: The Social Ladder By David Williamson Ensemble Theatre

The Social Ladder, David Williamson’s newest play, has opened at Ensemble Theatre Sydney in a world premiere season. It’s a sharp, social satire that has you laughing one moment and squirming in your seat the next.

A hilariously cutting look at our collective desperation to climb the ranks, Williamson’s new work is current, relatable and brazen in its exposure of human foibles.

The Social Ladder takes us right into the living room of the Norries as they plan and prep a night to impress. We’ve all been there. Those awkward dinner parties with people of varying social status and political persuasions you’d probably avoid if you had a choice.

Katie Norrie (Mandy Bishop) is an arts program officer from a modest background who craves a seat at the table and aspires to a major board position to get there.

When Katie and her husband, Roger (Johnny Nasser), invite the Mallorys (Sarah Chadwick and Andrew McFarlane), an elite Sydney power couple, over for dinner, the stakes skyrocket, and Katie goes all in. As the girl with the wrong accent from Engadine, she is desperate to get everything right, including every word that falls out of her husband’s mouth.

Old friends are plucked back into temporary favour to help impress the Mallorys, and as drinks flow, polite facades crack and careful social masks begin to slip.

David Williamson is a titan of Australian theatre, with a back catalogue that is head-spinningly prolific. As the most produced playwright in Australian theatre history, his work spans decades of Australian social and political life, from The Removalists and Don’s Party in the 1970s through to films such as Gallipoli and Emerald City in the 1980s and beyond.

Williamson has a knack for highlighting political and social struggles in a way that moves beyond the surface and into the living room, uncovering human flaws and foibles. He understands actors, trusting they will breathe life into his lines which are so quintessentially Australian, making them immediately recognisable.

Director Janine Watson, herself an actor, provides a strong structural frame that allows the cast to be shameless and bold. The result is a fearless, skilled ensemble that launches the play with energy, precision and a willingness to get gloriously messy.

The set, designed by Veronique Benett, is minimal and malleable, allowing the text and performances to take centre stage. Matt Cox’s lighting adds a subtle sparkle, just enough glamour to signify elite life and the relentless pressure of keeping up appearances. 

A clever motif appears in the form of descending chandeliers at the start of each act, which feel like characters in their own right. The hilariously tentative way one chandelier lowers at the beginning of the dinner party scene perfectly reflects how we’re all feeling, bracing ourselves for the awkward discomfort that’s about to come.

The second act opens with an especially clever and amusing sequence, as the actors and a stage assistant assemble the Norrie living room to absolute perfection.

Set to Clare Hennessy’s composition, the scene beautifully heightens audience tension as the couple prepares for their high-stakes dinner. I always love it when directors incorporate actors into stage management, blurring the boundary between off-stage and on-stage worlds.

A cast of stage and screen veterans bring Williamson’s biting satire to life with sharp comic timing and precise physical work that keeps the audience on edge.

Mandy Bishop gives a commanding performance as Katie, her physicality expressing tension and desperation from the start. She feels like a dam waiting to burst, and the audience teeters on the edge with her. Bishop plays the ‘pathetic clown’ with hilarious, endearing pathos.

Sarah Chadwick is magnetic as Catherine Mallory, snake-like in her sensual charm and penetrating gaze. She brings layering and nuance to the role, subtly subverting expectations as the character unfolds. She’s the quintessential British ex-pat of the North Shore, played with intelligence and pointed subtext. (Fun fact: she played a memorable role in the original Priscilla Queen of the Desert film as Tick’s ex-wife.)

Andrew McFarlane is charismatic and ruthless as Charles Mallory, expertly handling an unlikeable character who somehow becomes oddly endearing. His verbal and physical wrangling with Matt Minto’s Ben Gregory is a particular highlight.

The actors are all particularly impressive in the way they bring strong, energetic physicality to their roles. Some of the sharpest comic moments arrive through movement. There are moments of slapstick and even an unexpected and spontaneous Bollywood interlude.

Many lines capture the current social climate with uncomfortable accuracy, with references to trends like AI. When Ben Gregory says to his wife, as she walks in with student assignments to mark, “They’re training AI to mark papers, you know?” Jo replies “Bring it on!”, and it cuts straight to the contemporary mood.

Modern cultural shorthand is everywhere, from kimchi, kombucha and sourdough to a frantic reliance on apps and online reviews, with panicked declarations like, “TripAdvisor only gives it two stars.”

Wine functions as its own form of social sparring. Requests from the Mallorys around wine selection are especially seat-squirming in their relatability. Watching the cast wriggle, twitch and grimace in this awkward moment is perfectly judged comic timing.

The Social Ladder delivers a sharp, biting take on social climbing. It’s hilariously engaging theatre that asks us to loosen our tight grip on the social masks we wear. In doing so, it invites us to question our own sense of status, while ultimately forgiving ourselves for our flaws.

David Williamson’sThe Social Ladder runs to 14 March at Ensemble Theatre. 78 McDougall Street Kirribilli NSW 2061.

Tickets: https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/the-social-ladder/

Website: https://www.ensemble.com.au/

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Photo credits: Phil Erbacher