The mere fact that this is a Working Dog production means
that you can guess the tone – this is the D-Gen production team, the
folks behind Frontline and The Hollowmen. So all your
immediate assumptions are correct: it's an ensemble cast, it's about a
deeply bureaucratic organisation, and it's damn funny.
The show is set in the offices of the chillingly plausible
Nation Building Authority, a private-public initiative putting together
the Woolarong Urban Development.
It's created and written by the long-time team of Rob Sitch, Santo
Cilauro and Tom Gleisner, but it's clearly Sitch's baby: he directs and
plays the central role of harried departmental head Tony, balancing the
pressures of governmental interference while attempting to woo overseas
investment consortia.
He's assisted by the less than able Scott (Dave Lawson) and the
downright incompetent Katie (Emma-Louise Wilson), who are predictably
unable to help him when an artsy new logo is demanded by the blustery
Rhonda (Kitty Flanagan, in scene-stealing form).
At the same time an errant line in the prospectus forces
hapless staffers Nat and Hugh (Luke McGregor and Celia Pacquola) into
finding some way to fulfil the new Jamie Oliver-approved request that
the development include a community garden, as demanded by teflon-coated
government liaison Jim (Anthony Lehmann, aka Lehmo) and despite the
utter refusal of the developers to even consider including it.
The timing of the series is perfect, given the current
controversies about government involvement with the construction
industry (as the Independent Commission Against Corruption have
learned…), and the performances are note perfect – the commitment with
which Lehmann warns “the tweet tide will turn” should win the man a
Logie, and Pacquola and McGregor make a great comic team. Can't wait for
next week.
