Top Silk (Ensemble) ★★½

Written by David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre. 31 Jul – 12 Sep 2026.

Ensemble plays things by-the-book with a staid revival of David Williamson’s 80s domestic/legal drama Top Silk.

Legal power couple Jane Fredericks (Rachel Gordon) and Trevor Fredericks (Nicholas Brown) have their intellects and their ethics tested on all fronts. At home, their son Mark (Samir Nasser) is failing to hit their own academic heights. At work, Jane, a legal aid lawyer, finds herself representing an old high school lover, Eddie (Jeremy Waters), on a drug charge. When she hears of a less-than-legal way to get his charges dropped, she has to wrestle with her conscience. Meanwhile, Trevor’s dreams of a political career might be helped if he represents a local media baron who-for-legal-reasons-is-definitely-not-named-Murdoch. As the two legal minds wrangle with their qualms, their marriage starts to slip through the cracks.

There are two questions I ask when watching a revival of a play: has it dated, and what is it saying to today’s audience? For Top Silk the answers are “yes” and “nothing new.” This moral labyrinth is far too simplistic for a contemporary audience, and its politics anodyne. What might have felt on-the-pulse in 1989, with its so-thinly-veiled-there’s-no-point characters of the time, and its 1980s view of a “strong independent woman,” feels a bit silly in 2026.

The strong ensemble are, by all measures, giving great performances as they work hard to breathe new life into the text. Rachel Gordon holds strong as the powerful/desirable/loving 80s superwoman (sans shoulder pads) at the story’s core. Nicholas Brown makes the supposedly bookish and unlikable Trevor… well, quite likeable actually, with a touch of political sleaze. Jeremy Waters has fun with the hapless incarcerated Eddie (and he gets some of the show’s best lines). Thomas Campbell goes full Rupert as the rich and manipulative Paul Bradley.

Williamson’s dialogue feels overworked and static on Ailsa Paterson’s legislatively cold set. The lines and set-up were so obvious I wanted to stand up and object – “Your Honor, the playwright is leading the witness!” Sound and lighting bring to mind 80s game show Mastermind and 90s TV hit Law & Order (you could practically hear the “dun-dun” between scenes). Partially this is a stylistic thing — the fashion of playwriting has changed, leaving Top Silk looking like your mum’s old dress. It’s cute, in an ironic way, but not something you’d take seriously.

It must be said that none of this seemed to bother the happy, packed-out Ensemble audience around me, who laughed on cue, giggled at the appearance of an old-fashioned credit card “click-clack” machine, and rode each twist of the plot with an audible “oh.” As with all of Ensemble Theatre’s David Williamson revivals and premieres, his loving audience is waiting for them.

Personally, I’d say this one is for the fans, or those who want to tick a notable Australian classic off their “to see” list. The lack of relevance or rediscovery in the production keeps Top Silk something of a museum piece for those looking for a hit of 80s drama.