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Clip description
Kenny (Martin Harris), handcuffed to the balustrade, taunts his wife Fiona (Jacki Weaver) and Sergeant Simmonds (Peter Cummins) with sexual provocations. The senior policeman lashes out, watched by Fiona, Constable Ross (John Hargreaves), the removalist (Chris Haywood) and Fiona’s sister (Kate Fitzpatrick). After beating him senseless, Simmonds lectures Kenny about self-control.
Curator’s notes
One of the questions of the play is how much ‘official’ violence these characters – and the society in general – will tolerate, in the interests of social order. The answer, fairly obviously, is a great deal, since none of them lifts a finger to help the man being beaten. The editing in this sequence makes clear that they all find the sergeant’s violence out of all proportion, yet not one word comes out of their mouths. Nor do we see any sign that the sergeant regrets his loss of self-control. Indeed, the look at the beginning of the scene shows the policeman is enjoying his power over another man. Sexual tension underlines much of Simmonds’s violence, but the motives of the others are not quite pure either. Kenny’s predominant method of insult is sexual, especially towards the two women, although in this scene he taunts the other men with his sexual prowess. In clip three, Simmonds turns on the older sister for her supposed immorality.
