THE SPOOK

A MALTHOUSE MELBOURNE PRODUCTION

THE SPOOK

BY MELISSA REEVES
DIRECTED BY TOM HEALEY
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN ANNA BORGHESI
LIGHTING DESIGN RICHARD DINNEN
COMPOSITION AND SOUND DESIGN DAVID FRANZKE

MELBOURNE CAST ALISON BELL, KEVIN HARRINGTON, MARGARET MILLS, DENIS MOORE, TONY NIKOLAKOPOULOS , LUKE RYAN, MARIA THEODORAKIS
TOURING CAST KEVIN HARRINGTON, DENIS MOORE, TONY NIKOLAKOPOULOS, GENEVIEVE PICOT, LUKE RYAN, ANNE-LOUISE SARKS, MARIA THEODORAKIS

“AN ENTERTAINING ROMP THROUGH TIMES PAST... HOPEFULLY, IN 30 YEARS WE WILL BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK AND LAUGH WITH THE SAME IRONY AT OUR CURRENT SECURITY ANXIETIES.”

MARTIN BALL,THE AGE (2007)

Martin Porter is The Spook: an ordinary, working class, Menzies-voting, Catholic boy of the 1960's. His mission: to infiltrate the South Bendigo branch of the Australian Communist party and report its activities to ASIO. His problem: a suspicious mother, an overly attentive wife, and an unexpected befriending of the very 'Reds' he's keeping an eye on.

Against the torrid backdrop of war in Vietnam and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the unsuspecting Spook battles personal and national treacheries when his friendly embrace becomes a handshake of betrayal.

Melbourne playwright Melissa Reeves (co-author of Who’s Afraid of the Working Class) matches this true story with whimsical comedy and an astute understanding of how politics works at a micro-level in Australia, to create a bitter-sweet personal odyssey with a twenty-first century bite.