Writer/director Sarah Doyle sets the confronting tone of her play ANACONDA with the play’s very first action. With an axe the main character Phil Walker smashes his way through the back wall onto the stage proper.

Tough subjects need to be tackled in an uncompromising way. Doyle’s play stems from the sexual abuse and extreme bullying scandal that engulfed Sydney’s Trinity Grammar School back in 2000. In one of the more horrendous, perverse aspects of the scandal, students watched on as fellow students were violently sexually abused.

Years late, one of these assaults comes back to haunt the victim, the perpetrator and one of the spectators. In blind rage, the victim murders the perpetrator in a brutal knife attack. The victim- Phil Walker- is in jail, ready to plead guilty and face a long custodial sentence.

One day, whilst he is sitting in his jail cell, Walker gets an unexpected visitor. It is one of Sydney’s leading barristers, Matty Buttiker. He wants Walker to change his plea to not guilty, and run a self defence case. Buttiker has a special interest in the case. He was one of the students who looked on, all those years ago, as Walker was assaulted….

ANACONDA plays out as a four hander, featuring a strong cast. Simon Lyndon, who many in the audience will recognize from his extensive film work including BLACKROCK and CHOPPER is well cast as Walker.

Damian de Montemas plays barrister Buttiker. His journey is the most compelling as he tries to allay his feelings of guilt and seeks redemption for his appalling past actions.

Leanna Walsman was compelling as Buttiker’s wife Bivva Bray. Walsman, who made the international scene with her role as bounty hunter Zam Wesell in George Lucas’  STAR WARS: EPISODE 3, remains one of  our finest actresses with her strong stage presence and distinctive voice. Walsman plays a woman who had fought hard for her middle class lifestyle.  She fights Buttiker all the way to try and ensure that he does not get too involved in Walker’s case.

Rounding out the cast is Martin Broome as Tove Hegharty, a gay bar attendant who was a fellow student of both Buttiker’s and Walker’s, whom Buttiker seeks out for some counsel.

 A strong drama, well performed and directed, ANACONDA plays the Bondi Pavilion Theatre until Saturday November 23, 2013.