Kill the PM

With the extremism currently loose in the world, Kill the PM is a provocative title, but director James Dalton says writer Fregmonto Stokes’s aim was to immediately provoke the audience to a pro or con view of extreme action – which the play then explores.

The title is 12 months old and Dalton says it’s frightening to see how much the world has changed in that time. He understands the frustration of people who feel nothing they have tried has changed their circumstances – and lack of education and disempowerment are factors – but feels there are better ways to deal with problems in a civilised society than to resort to violence.

‘Freg’ himself is an agitprop performer whose alter-ego Twiggy Palmcock provokes in a Sacha Baron Cohen manner; he was onstage at the Liberal Party celebrations on election night and has pursued interviews with Tony Abbott and Clive Palmer.

Because of the nature of the play, this aspect of Freg may be fraught in future but due to his open and whimsical nature, it seems unlikely the playwright is currently on an ASIO person-of-interest list. He says if he gets arrested when he returns from South America he intends to blame James. (MMu)

Oct 12-26, Old 505 Theatre, 342 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills, $18-28, venue505.com

BY MICHAEL MUIR