FAMILY VALUES

About the show

A celebrated federal judge. His son, a born-again Christian. His daughter, a Border Force officer. Her partner, the captain of a Border Force ship. His other daughter, a left-wing activist. His wife, who has worked all her life to keep the family together. Saba, an asylum seeker on the run from Nauru. On the eve of his birthday, is it too much to expect his wife and three children celebrate with him? For 50 years, David Williamson has shown us the best and worst of ourselves. A blackly comic drama situated squarely on the fault lines that divide Australia, Family Values is David at his angry best: furious that his generation has retired from defending the socially compassionate values on which they claim to have built this country. The play asks us to choose freedom over reputation, empathy over franking credits; to abandon a deeply flawed system for the sake of humanity. David’s belief that comedy can reveal our harshest truths is undimmed, and his hope that theatre can change hearts and minds remains an inspiration to the whole industry. As the Stables turns 50, it is only fitting that our most successful playwright returns to where he began.