In the late 70s, two ad men met for an informal chat that will set the wheels of history as we know it in motion. This meeting of minds isn’t based on a singular event that really happened. It’s an example of the strategy meetings marketing directors and lobbyists have had about maintaining non-renewable energy as the world’s primary energy source, even when facts show doing so will lead to a mass death sentence.

What saves the production from being immersive education is writer, director and one of the two performers Christopher Samuel Carroll’s exploration of how ‘faceless men’, like the two we’re given access to, can live with knowing the damage they’re doing to themselves, their loved ones and a few billion other people. 

Carroll’s writing is witty and engaging, keeping audiences intrigued through the play’s introduction where the two men exchange pleasantries across a mid-century meeting room as they size each other up. It starts to drag when Carroll’s character, working for a fuel company, keeps throwing up reasons why the tobacco industry is doomed to fail, while performer Damon Baudin, a hot shot marketing contractor working for the tobacco industry, keeps lobbying back.

When the fuel company’s research on the effects of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere is revealed, we find ourselves in the emotional meat of the play’s marketing-industry-critique sandwich. Carroll is fraught with guilt; Baudin is callously excited by the possibility of manipulating people on a global scale. Their heated back and forth is gripping and full of tension, but Carroll takes the energy back to zero by having Baudin translate the strategy he already outlined.

This is frustratingly repetitive; there’s no time allocated to flesh out his reflections about why people manipulate society to their own – and the collective’s – detriment. 

Both actors deliver strong performances, though Baudin being a despicable character, is more fun to watch. Considering he wears three hats, Caroll has done a wonderful job in this production, but his directing is the weakest of the roles. There’s not much happening on stage bar subtle lighting changes that don’t appear to correlate with the dialogue. The emphasis is on Carroll’s writing and the exchange of ideas between the two characters. It’s fortunate the writing is strong enough that, apart from the moments of repetitive arguments, the talking heads format still keeps one’s attention. 

Book review: The Haunting of Mr & Mrs Stevenson, Belinda Lyons-Lee

Smokescreen is an exposé of how we can be manipulated by corporate interests but it only briefly touches on the far more interesting reflection of our capacity to undertake work that harms ourselves and others. However, the nuggets of commentary Carroll does deliver on this point are enough to make the show worth a watch. 

Smokescreen will be performed until 13 July 2025.

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