Perfect Arrangement
Writer: Topher Payne
Director: Patrick Kennedy
New Theatre, Newtown
4 February–7 March, 2026
Perfect Arrangement coincides nicely with the timing of this year’s Mardi Gras Festival. Set in 1950s America, when McCarthyism was rife, the play examines the life, and literally the survival, of gay people during the Lavender Scare. This lesser-known persecution was aimed at rooting out LGBTQIA+ people in all walks of American life at the time.
The action centres around four gay people who, to maintain appearances, form two seemingly conventional “couples”, Bob and Millie Martindale and Jim and Norma Baxter. It goes without saying that the real couples are Bob and Jim, and Millie and Norma, and by living in adjoining apartments, the couples can interact easily and keep up the pretence of normality.
The set (Patrick Kennedy, Tom Bannerman), in bright unrelieved red, white and blue, is somewhat disconcerting at first, but becomes an ironic reference to America’s image of itself as the land of the free. The opening cocktail scene is staged and played like a 1950s sitcom, together with ad breaks and harsh lighting. The emphasis on showy presentation and materialism, together with beautiful fashions and brittle, over-the-top mannerisms, authentically conveys the artificiality of the era.
Things start to unravel when Bob’s boss, Theodore Sunderson, and his wife Kitty arrive for cocktails. Theodore announces that he has been instructed to purge “deviants” from the administration and that Bob’s department will have to follow suit. Since both Bob and his secretary, Norma, are federal employees, the implications for them are enormous if “outed”: loss of income, reputation and ostracism.
As investigations proceed and they teeter on the brink of discovery, a further complication arrives in the form of Lucinda Grant, herself bisexual, who suspects she has encountered Millie in the past and knows her orientation. With all these balls in the air, the characters have their work cut out for themselves while the tension and drama ramp up, interspersed by some hairbreadth escapes and funny moments.
Director Patrick Kennedy has a fine ensemble cast to work with and keeps the sense of personal anxiety to the fore while the drama unfolds. Luke Visentin (Bob Martindale), in a sharp suit and with a conservative 1950s hairdo, plays his federal department manager role to the hilt, while Brock Cramond (Jim Baxter) presents his character in a more subdued manner, laid-back and supportive, as befits a teacher. Huxley Forras (Theodore Sunderson) is convincing as a stern, no-nonsense executive who’ll get the job done.
The female characters, however, get the scenes with the more revelatory writing. Norma Baxter (Dominique Purdue) is Bob’s secretary, who faces the anxiety of possibly losing her employment, and Jordan Thompson, as Millie Martindale, is delightful as a seemingly conventional femme housewife, threatened by a chequered past. Brooke Ryan’s performance as Kitty Sunderson is a standout, transforming from a vapid, somewhat annoying 1950s housewife to a more nuanced character.
Perfect Arrangement is an excellently produced show. It is a satisfying offering for discerning theatregoers and is nicely timed for the coming Mardi Gras festivities.
