Face to Face by David Williamson. Mockingbird Theatrics at Belconnen Arts Centre October 7-17 2026
Reviewed by Frank McKone
October 7
Cast:
Jack Manning – Sachin Nayak; Glen Tregaskis – Joshua Nicholls
Greg Baldoni – Terry Johnson; Maureen Tregaskis – Anna Hemmings
Claire Baldoni – Victoria Tyrell Dixon; Barry McLean – Zade Fainstein
Julie Rossiter – Chloe Smith; Luka Mitrovic – Ryan Hedley
Richard Halligan – David Yates; Therese Martin – Sophia Castello
Production Team:
Director/Designer – Céline Oudin; Assistant Director – Io Hogan
Stage Manager & Lighting/Sound Operator – Aoife McFoley
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Céline Oudin
Set Design/Concept – Chris Baldock;
Sound Design - Céline Oudin and cast
Costumes & Props - Céline Oudin, cast and Production Team
Face to Face doesn’t feel like a play being acted out. It seems simply to be real, as the convenor of this example of diversionary conferencing explains to the young adult, Glen, what will happen if he refuses to take part seriously. It will mean going to court, being found guilty and being sent to jail. And you will never get your job back.
At the successful conclusion of the conference of eight of the people affected by Glen’s angry violent behaviour, who have agreed to take part – you will need to see how it works out over the 80 minutes with no interval – being reminded by his mother, Glen comes back to say thanks to the convenor.
Jack Manning advises Glen, one to one, that if he feels about to do something like that again, Glen should “Remember your mother”.
Glen turns back to Manning, saying thanks again for that “best advice”, as he leaves to join others off stage – leaving Jack Manning satisfied that he has done his management job well, finally able to leave this conference room ready, perhaps, to take on another.
Williamson’s writing of these ten diverse characters’ revealed inter-relationships is simply extraordinary. He leaves us seriously concerned for Glen’s future. Can he overcome his aggressive feelings? Is he capable intellectually to resolve conflicts at work? Will he survive a year on probation back in his same workplace – and have the people there learned to change their ways?
When I saw the original production of this work in March 2000, I was keen to know if the new idea of diversionary conferencing, keeping young people especially out of the court system, would become more commonly used – and would it be more successful than “justice” resulting from combat between lawyers.
Mockingbird’s decision to mount Face to Face is an important contribution, as a little AI research will show, in summary:
Diversionary conferencing—predominantly known as Youth Justice Conferencing or Group Conferencing—is an highly successful mechanism used thousands of times annually across Australia and New Zealand to resolve criminal matters outside of a standard, adversarial court hearing. When a conference is completed successfully, the matter is resolved without a formal conviction or further court action, meaning it is nearly 90% to 99% successful at helping participants avoid traditional court sentencing once a referral is accepted.
How Often is it Used?
Conferencing is widely integrated across Australian juvenile and summary justice systems, functioning at both the pre-court stage (referred directly by police) and the court-referred stage (referred by a magistrate before sentencing).
[ https://www.nsw.gov.au/legal-and-justice/youth-justice/about/statistics/conferencing ]
Plan Agreement Rate 99.3% – 99.8% (e.g., NSW Data) Overwhelmingly avoids trial breakdown; almost all conferences result in a mutually agreed solution instead of a contested hearing.
Successful Completion 91% – 94% (National Average) Once the youth completes the plan, the Children's Court takes no further action and the case is closed.
Recidivism Reduction 21% vs 40% (5-year reoffending) Diversion participants are roughly half as likely to return to the court system compared to individuals given standard court outcomes. Swinburne University research notes a 24% to 40% drop in repeating offenses.
Cost Efficiency ~43% cheaper than court Financial data from agencies like the Australian Institute of Criminology reveals conferencing averages roughly $1,300 per case, compared to over $2,200 for a traditional court trial.
The quality of Mockingbird’s presentation is also remarkable, even down to highly appropriate casting, in terms of physical features and voices, as well as in details of costuming; and how Céline Oudin’s directing has worked to make every actor’s characterisation equally true to reality.
The standard of this production matches, in my view, the original Ensemble Theatre production, directed by Sandra Bates.
She, I was told by actor Amos Szeps, “gave the cast freedom to develop their characters” and then Bates herself explained she “rehearsed the play as if it were a real conference. Geoff Cartwright, playing the convenor as it really happens, separately interviewed each actor in role before full rehearsals began, to get their agreement to attend the conference. So he knows things about each character that the other actors don’t know he knows. This gives him the power to challenge each character/actor differently in each performance to create the spark of reality which this issue needs.”
I remarked “It certainly worked in the 104th performance” that I reviewed then. I haven’t asked Céline Oudin about her rehearsal method on this occasion, but I’m sure it has been just as effective.
Definitely, not to be missed.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
