SMOKESCREEN
A play about the dark arts of manipulating the message.
For decades, the tobacco industry has been forced to duck the scientific consensus, dodge regulation, and pioneer ever more sophisticated marketing techniques as their industry (and their most loyal customers) have been choked to death. At a defining moment in history - though few of us knew it - those trade secrets were passed on to fossil fuel companies facing similar challenges on a global scale.
Delay, diminish, muddy the facts, and get the people that matter on your side - and there’s no telling how long you can keep mining, drilling and fracking for more.
Smokescreen imagines a clandestine meeting between two advertising execs, as they sow the seeds for the fake news culture of the 21st century.
Smokescreen was written with the support of artsACT Homefront funding during a residency at Belconnen Arts Centre in 2020. The production debuted at Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre as part of the
'Q - The Locals' season in February 2022.
REVIEWS
"Strong tension and excellent performances from both Baudin and Carroll make this piece worth seeing... Smokescreen is a thought-provoking and welcome start to The Q's 2022 drama programming. It's the job of the arts to challenge and confront especially in difficult times. This is a power struggle played out under the flight paths. The stakes are the survival of the planet."
"Smokescreen is a most engaging and thought-provoking work performed by highly skilled actors with clarity. It is a work that should be seen widely and that might easily be toured for national audiences."
CREDITS
Writer/Director
Christopher Samuel Carroll
Performers
Christopher Samuel Carroll
Damon Baudin
Lighting Designer
Antony Hateley
Promotional Photographs
Jane Duong
Production Photographs
Cathy Breen
PRODUCTION HISTORY
2-5 February 2022
Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre
Supported by Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, artsACT and Belconnen Arts Centre.
