To most, it would seem as though a day on the beach would be a management consultant’s ideal day, away from the gruelling hours and intense pressure of corporate life. But as Anchuli Felicia King’s new play, “American Signs”,  demonstrates, this is, in fact, the last place that aspiring graduate consultants want to be as to be left without work is essentially the first step towards the end. 

King’s play seeks to expose the dark underbelly of the American corporate world through a one-performer show starring Catherine Van-Davies as the unnamed consultant. The consultant, picked from the top of her class at Stanford, lands a job at one of the American ‘Big 3’ firms with the promise of spectacular pay and a ‘values-driven’ approach (unlike the ‘sharks’ in the hedge funds, as expressed in the play). From there, she is plucked off ‘the beach’ to fly to Youngstown, Ohio, with a senior consultant to restructure a recently acquired factory. It does not take long for things to start to break down, both professionally and personally as the restructure goes horribly and tragically wrong while her relationship with the senior consultant spirals. 

The play is tightly written and, with a 70 minute runtime, is perfectly paced. The play was written with Van-Davies in mind and she does a superb job of maintaining the intensity of the play as she embodies many characters and keeps the script moving as it delivers incisive commentary on the industry and those that it swallows up. 

At the heart of this play is its commentary on gender and exploitation in the capitalist machine. The power imbalance between the protagonist and the senior consultant is made clear and what follows is a clear scenario of disempowerment. King does a superb job of going beyond the common understandings of exploitation and exploring some of the more nuanced issues that fall underneath the surface. 

While not immediately obvious, some of the other underlying racial dynamics are very interesting in this play. The protagonist, an Asian woman, is immediately pitted against a Pakistani graduate, who feel they need to do anything they can to survive in a world that is built to exclude them. It is in these moments that King is at her searing best, exploring the realities of the corporate world for marginalised groups without holding anything back. This leads to a sombre reality: even though the protagonist wins the initial battle, both are left on the outer at the end. 

Van-Davies is superb in her performance, conveying all the nuanced complexities of the character and the incessant pressure she faces. James Lew’s exam room-style set design and Benjamin Brockman’s moody lighting also help contribute to this ambiance which directly contrasts the American Dream with the darker reality that lies beneath the surface. 

It is in this strength that lies the production’s greatest flaw. King is unrelenting in her criticism of the American capitalist machine and perhaps, if the play is made for export, this is all that needs to be done but it felt as though there was an opportunity missed to examine the corporate landscape in Australia which is plagued by many of the same issues. While tightly constructed, there are also some stumbles in the play and some lines that don’t quite sing that hamper the flow of the narrative ever so slightly. However, overall, this is a superb work of theatre which is witty, humorous, dark and compelling its exploration of a corporate world which is considered by King to be dominated by ‘values-driven’ behemoths that reveal anything but a conscience below the surface. As this play continues to develop, it could turn out to be King’s best work yet. 

Rating: ★★★★1/2

American Signs plays until 14^th July at Wharf 2 Theatre. For more information, click here.

Photo: Prudence Upton