Andrew Upton did a dazzling adaptation of Gorky's Philistines for the National. But his new play Riflemind, already presented by the Sydney Theatre Company, is a far more mixed affair. Dealing with the mooted reunion of a once-iconic rock group, it may be of interest to aficionados but it never achieves the potency of theatrical metaphor.
Upton's action is set over a long weekend in the rustic pad of John, former frontman of the eponymous group. Since the band split 10 years earlier, John and his wife, Lynn, have led a clean drink-and-drugs-free life. But, as the group gets together to explore a possible second coming, the old tensions resurface.
John himself is a truculent guy at odds with the bass guitarist, Phil. He also seems determined to cut a better deal for the routinely victimised drummer, Moon. And, not least, there is the question of whether Lynn can stand the strain of a reunion without lapsing into her former bad habits.
"Nothing's as good the second time," says John; and that's as true of theatre as of rock. As old rivalries re-appear, as Moon announces that "we're good when we play, and horrible when we don't", and as the group's manager desperately tries to keep the show on the road, I was reminded of David Hare's 1975 Teeth 'N' Smiles. But the key difference is that Hare's play related a band's terminal appearance to the ending of dreams, careers and the collapsing utopianism of British culture.
With Upton, however, what we get is a narrowly-focused play about the hectic unreality of rock fame and the primacy of family values. In the end, it turns out to be as much a play about sibling love-hate and John's protective attitude to his flaky wife as it does about rock's place in the wider scheme of things.
At least Philip Seymour Hoffman's production gathers momentum in the second half, as John and Phil are revealed to be brothers. John Hannah also gets a chance to explore the source of the hero's surliness, Paul Hilton acquires a measure of sympathy as the wasted Phil, and Susan Prior's Lynn dutifully succumbs to the pressure of events.
But Ruth Gemmell is sadly under-used as Phil's vituperative partner, and, although the play gets steadily better as it goes along, I felt that it never delivered its initial promise of putting rock in a wider social context.
A classic case, you might say, of jam tomorrow.
