Hollow Men Review

"I don't get it Mum" - SOC (sister of Cactus) half and hour in to the "play".

Well, I did. Hollow Men was an awful piece of propaganda put on by Pinkos for Pinkos. So surrounded by a half full/empty Maidment Theatre of poorly dressed arty farty "NZ on Air is great" types and a loud laughing twit to my far left, on closing night I suffered through another example of why I believe culture is an All Blacks match and not New Zealand theatre. Five years at Auckland university I had never actually sat in the Theatre. Now I know why.

There were no sex scenes.

I cringed for Diane Foreman who is played by a frumpy, poorly dressed actress from the school of National Radio prooooonun-ciation, Lyndee-Jane Rutherford. The play obviously on a shoe string budget was incapable of being able to capture the essence of Foreman. Designer suits and more importantly - good shoes. As the lights dimmed to the dance with Brash, I can't believe how terrible it would have been for her sitting in the audience watching this shit. Moreso when she saw Brash on-stage dithering about, woman's intuition must have been to look up at the man she once desired and wonder what prescription drugs she was on at the time.

Rutherford did however do a wonderful Sue Wood.

Arthur Meek was the star of the show, playing Bryan Sinclair. By the end of the play I wanted to throttle Bryan Sinclair. I take it there is a queue for this in real life as well.

Brash was portrayed as a dithering obsessive compulsive cleaner. I admit a snigger when he pulled out the vacuum cleaner and then again for the National Anthem scene. But it all dragged on far too long and wasn't punchy enough. Too many speeches, not enough backroom brawling.

To capture an election campaign is to capture the friction as nothing I saw on-stage wouldn't have been said in a Labour campaign, replacing "businessmen" for "Unions" and "Diane" for "Judith". And there would have been loads of friction. Every political campaign no matter what side has the inevitable fight, whether it is physical or verbal. ACT had Wi Huata sticking his fists into walls and physically threatening other men. In a campaign team dominated by McCully and Men I can't accept there wasn't more friction. The Greens possibly don't quarrel as Nandor would just light up a Joint and hum a Rasta prayer to calm the troops down.

I would have been far more impressed with the play if it included a scene on the derivation of the stolen emails. Of all the characters, Peter Keenan's was portrayed as the most sinister. Perhaps Hager was trying to tell us something.

Or not. Nothing in the play was that deep.

Hollow Men is a timely reminder in election year that campaign teams shouldn't be sending around emails. They also shouldn't employ people who are disloyal and moles. I also firmly believe that no one should be involved in a Party's campaign if they have friends in the opposition. As Whale Oil and I agree that in politics you are untrustworthy if you have friends in the opposition.

And more importantly John Key shouldn't be employing anyone involved in the last unsuccessful National Party election debacle. This includes Murray McCully. Especially Murray McCully. I mean, when did these chumps last "win" a bloody campaign?

But roll on Absolute Power - the play. I am a few chapters through the book now. It would make a Lord of the Rings trilogy in comparison to the crap plugged by the trust-funded baby and "rich prick" Nicky Hagar.