When Bandicoot Ridge in the idyllic New South Wales highlands learns that it is
to become the home for a sinister training centre, the residents of the tiny
hamlet are thrown into consternation. Equally stunned is the group of doctors in
Sydney who have been unexpectedly bequeathed the land for the centre in the will
of a well-meaning but misguided wealthy donor. Meanwhile, Lana Graham, the
brilliant young lawyer fighting to hold on as the local independent MP in the
looming election, struggles to control the forces bearing down on the town in
the wake of the bequest: A clapped out shock-jock, a bikie gang, the local
billionaire business matriarch Agnes Flint, an enigmatic Lebanese businessman,
and Lana’s cynical lover Professor Martin Mooney. As the knife-edge election
approaches, the action centres on Bandicoot Ridge’s struggling community
theatre, where bitter conflicts are played out on stage and off stage, and the
real motivations of the dramatis personae are laid bare. The Play’s the Thing is
a satirical and often hilarious tale about the triumph of love, loyalty and
tolerance over treachery, prejudice and the might of the dollar.