Having now directed the premier performance of David Williamson’s last three plays—The Department, A Handful of Friends and The Club, I feel confident in saying that Williamson has two great talents, over and above his singular ear for dialogue and his sharp instinct for dramatic structure. They are firstly his adherence to that old adage, much quoted, not always observed: “Write about what you know.” Secondly, that since there is little exotica or eccentricity in Williamson’s background as a country bank officer’s son studying engineering, his adept selection and juxtaposition of what he knows is such that what at first may seem banal or trivial can suddenly be profound.

Williamson is, in fact, a playwright enjoying total rapport with his audience. So readily do Wiliamson’s words strike gold at the box office and so spontaneous is the audience response that it is easy to underestimate his craft, to suspect some trick or sleight of hand. It has sometimes been the case for Williamson to be isolated, even dismissed, as some sort of nine-day wonder whose knack for serving up what the audience wants is bloody amazing, but whose writing is of only passing worth. It is my experience that Williamson enlarges and illuminates his audience’s perception of itself and explores intricate sub-texts where it has been assumed that no such sub-texts exist.

It is as well to remember too that Williamson plays in subsidised theatres to the genuine general public. He is the only Australian playwright to repeatedly do this. With a few notable exceptions, most new Australian plays are courageously endured by regular theatre subscribers in the hope of a double helping to follow of sequin-studded Shakespeare or, heaven help us, Sheridan. Williamson enjoys a continuing success story with all major subsidised theatre companies and brings his own following with him. In the case of the Melbourne Theatre Company, which has presented the majority of his plays, the subscribers have made it clear that Williamson is not their particular brand of Twinings’ tea and stay away, while the non-theatregoers of Melbourne pack the usually off-limits Russell Street Theatre to capacity each evening at eight-fifteen for every Williamson performance.