David Williamson's black comedy satire, *The Removalists*, will be restaged by the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2025, demonstrating the play's enduring impact and its resistance to being easily forgotten. The fact that this modern Australian classic is being performed again more than 50 years after its creation is a testament to its remarkable relevance to contemporary society.
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03-26, 2025When Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks was planning the season in early 2024, she thought of Ballarat. She was particularly struck by the series of three high-profile murders of women that had occurred in the Victorian regional town, and the resulting public outrage over gendered violence. This prompted Sarks to seek out a dramatic work that could reflect this social phenomenon, highlighting the pervasiveness of violence against women.
Although Sarks initially hoped to find a completely new work, in the end, David Williamson's 1971 play, *The Removalists*, resonated with her. Sarks believes that the play's script remains powerful and relevant, and also offers an opportunity to "revitalize an Australian classic." This play provides an opportunity "to celebrate our theatrical history and culture, while also engaging in a profound reflection on it," she said, underscoring its continued importance.
*The Removalists* was originally performed at La Mama, an independent theatre in Melbourne, which is collaborating with MTC to present this production. In the 1970s, Williamson and other playwrights of the Melbourne New Wave theatre scene were given their first opportunities to create and produce new Australian works at La Mama. (Fittingly, on opening night, five original cast members, including Williamson, appeared on stage after the performance, earning a standing ovation.)
The play explores domestic violence, police brutality, misogyny, and the role of bystanders in perpetuating and enabling these dark aspects of humanity. Melbourne's Sumner Theatre has been transformed, with a seating area added to the stage—Sarks says this is to place the audience within the drama, allowing them to see themselves reflected in the violence unfolding on stage. "For me, the key is to place us in this picture and make it clear that all of us, whether we want to or not, are complicit," she explained, emphasizing the audience's role.
Staging *The Removalists* requires careful consideration of whether it is the right choice to bring these violent, racist, and misogynistic characters to the stage in 2025. Sarks said: "As an artist, you have to think very carefully about what you are perpetuating, and whether you are genuinely critiquing something, or simply allowing it to exist more in the world," highlighting the ethical considerations involved.
The plot begins in a two-man police station in a northern suburb of Melbourne, where two sisters, Fiona and Kate, arrive to report domestic violence. A stubborn old policeman, Simmonds, seizes the opportunity to demonstrate his usefulness, arranging for a removalist to go to Fiona's home to move furniture while her abusive husband is away. It becomes clear that he believes he will be rewarded sexually. But the plan goes awry, leading to a series of escalating violence that ultimately devolves into farcical absurdity and horror.
As Williamson explained in the program for the MTC, the story "is a warning about what can easily happen when three intensely competitive but insecure males find their egos threatened." Sarks was not overwhelmed by these heavy themes to the point of potentially losing the audience, but rather was attracted to the way the story "teeters." "One of the things I love about the script is that you are shocked at what is happening at one moment, and then almost immediately you are laughing," she said. "It keeps the audience open and engaged in a very particular way."
Sarks brings a contemporary female perspective to the 2025 MTC production. There is a scene in the play where Simmonds asks Fiona to show him her bruises. She lifts her top, and he greedily stares at her bare, scarred back. The scene is harrowing. "We are absolutely enacting what is in the 1971 script," Sarks said. "But it is informed by everything we now know and understand about what it means for a woman to go to the police to report such a crime," underscoring the production's nuanced approach.
In 2025, when [one in four women have experienced violence](https://www.ourwatch.org.au/quick-facts) by an intimate partner, emotional abuse, or economic abuse, and on average, one woman is killed every nine days by a current or former partner, Williamson's *The Removalists*, more than 50 years after its premiere, continues to tell the dark story of male violence—particularly violence against women—in this country.
The play sparks a conversation about who we are as a nation, what has changed, and what still needs to change. "I don't think this play will immediately change the law," Sarks said. "But I do believe that experiencing a work like this in a rational, emotional, and physical way does change people. I think that's what great stories can do," highlighting the power of theatre to effect social change.
*The Removalists* is playing at Melbourne's Southbank Theatre until April 17.
