 In a brisk and sharply crafted 45 minutes, Scapegoat transports us back to 2007, when corporate ambition and financial recklessness were at their peak. A fraud scandal has rocked a company, and within the finance department the question looms: who will be chosen as the sacrificial lamb? The answer, inevitably, will reveal as much about power, loyalty, and survival as it does about the absurdity of office culture itself.
Channeling the biting awkwardness of Peep Show and the Machiavellian manoeuvring of Succession, the play finds rich comedy in corporate chaos. Tommo McCarthey is outstanding as Richard, the swaggering alpha-dog CEO whose charm masks ruthless self-interest. Cara Doherty gives a finely tuned performance as Julia, the girl bossing CFO juggling both professional and personal stakes. Tommy Haines is delightful and a stand out as the hapless Brian, Julia’s soon-to-be ex-husband and Richard’s best mate, while Amy Kilroy is Nicole, the wary intern. Together, the ensemble mine both the comedy and the tragic absurdity of the situation for a steady stream of laughs. At times it feels like watching Johnson from Peep Show spar with a Tom-and-Greg double act straight out of Succession and it’s as deliciously awkward as that sounds. Robyn Chapman’s script skewers pre-2008 office life with precision and humour. From the cult of the self-help CD to hollow corporate feminism, from bloated egos to toxic loyalty games, Chapman satirises the era’s inflated sense of invincibility with sharp comic timing. Beneath the laughter runs a darker truth: the office is less a place of solidarity than of sacrifice, where success in good and bad times demands someone else’s downfall. Scapegoat doesn’t just parody a moment before the 2008 crash but it exposes the timeless absurdity of workplace politics, where the scramble for power or simple survival is always one step away from farce. Lee Hutchison 4/5 Scapegoat Venue: Annexe at theSpace @ Symposium Hall Dates: August 20-23rd Time: 1805 Tickets: www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/scapegoat |
|
