Heath Ledger Theatre, Perth
May 27, 2015

It is no small thing to revive a multi-award winning play and turn what was a two-act play into a one-act play. There are inevitable compromises that must be made, and one would seem to be the pace of the play. From the outset, the cast race through the dialogue, possibly to create the impression that they are fast-talking Chicago salesmen, possibly because they know that the show comes down at 8.50 PM, all over in an hour and twenty minutes.

Whatever the reason for the breakneck speed, it detracts from the dialogue. What should be witty and cutting is simply a cheap throwaway line. What should be pathos is, instead, pathetic. What should be dramatic pauses are instead minute gaps in the machine-gun rattle of expletive-laden speech. There is no room for drama here, no room for the light touch, the contrapuntal note that sets up the next episode. Everything is just too fast.

Even the set changes move too fast. There are, effectively, three sets, in two settings. There are the three sections of the Chinese restaurant in the first act, and the ransacked office in the...