Theatre Review Written By: Adam Pont

Position: Arts Journalist

Publication Buzz cuts

Dated: September 1999

Social observations are a frequent resource for many Australian play writes, and justifiably so due to the large number of eccentric characters that exist everywhere in our country. PERFORMING THE GOAT plucks several of these enigmas from obscurity to show just how bizarre and intriguing the person next door actually is. Darren Brealey presents four short plays that capture colloquial Aussie stereotypes and portray them with hilarious accuracy.

… ‘The Mechanics’ is an amusing insight into the games men and women play (or at least the games men think women want them to play). Russell Healy is outstanding as Colin, the slow and simple Mechanic who at the end of the day shows he knows much more about the female mind than his intellectually superior workmate Norbert…

The most disturbing thing about these plays is that there are characters like this in life that actually exist.