The Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Michael Frayn’s ‘Democracy’ at its new Sydney Theatre has been one of the best things in theatre this year. British director Michael Blakemore came out to direct the play as he did with a previous Frayn play ‘Copenhagen’.

‘Democracy’ studies the life and times of charismatic German Chancellor Willy Brandt who led the first left wing government in post war Germany and that of his shadow Gunter Guillaume. The time is 1969 and the start of a five year reign for Brandt and his government. In a claculated move to improve the Government’s public image, a yound advisor, the affable Guillaume, is brought in. He soon rises to become Brandt’s indispensable right hand man and confidant. Guillaume harbours a drak secret- one so explosive that it has the potential to bring down Brandt’s government and create serious trouble for both East and West Germany.

These were my notes: ‘Democracy ‘ was another fine Frayn play. What does it have going for it?! It’s an evocative portrait of Brandt with so many angles to choose from. A charismatic political leader…a man who struggled with sometimes severe depression…a politician who made a habit of profound, understated gestures that moved his public so much and which his colleagues found so hard to fathom…