Compelling, unnerving, and piercingly relevant, Bare Witness Theatre Company finally bring their critically acclaimed production, Smokescreen, to fortyfivedownstairs for a limited season from 8 July 2025.
The latest work by writer/performer Christopher Samuel Carroll is an electrifying powerplay between a pair of arch-manipulators that spotlights the impact of covert marketing techniques pioneered by the tobacco industry, then adopted by the fossil fuel industry, that paved the way for the fake-news culture of the 21st century.
Set in 1977, Smokescreen is a Mad Men-style drama about a pair of marketing executives who meet to swap trade secrets, but Glenn is in crisis mode. He’s had a successful career working for a major Oil company, powering the American Dream, and now he’s waking up to the damage it’s doing to the climate.
In a covert meeting he consults with Bud, a slick young talent from the Tobacco industry, to figure out how to effectively sell a toxic product … and also how to live with yourself if you succeed.
“There’s a layered voyeurism in eavesdropping on the encounter in Smokescreen,” says Christopher Samuel Carroll. “Two men, practically strangers, enter a room and within 90 minutes the power balance between them has turned on its head and, with it, the fate of the planet.”
“These characters are not political leaders, they’re not in the spotlight, and they’re not accountable, but their actions have unimaginable consequences. Because of when Smokescreen is set (1977), the experience for the audience is taught with dramatic irony and they become active participants in the story, whether they realise it or not.”
“The character of Glenn, who bears the moral responsibility for the Faustian pact he makes with Bud, would be long dead by now and it’s the audience, here and now, who live with the very real consequence of the actions in the play,” said Carroll.
Featuring compelling performances by Damon Baudin (Boys on the Verge of Tears, Romeo and Julie), and Christopher Samuel Carroll (I Have No Enemies, The Cadaver Palaver) Smokescreen will be the fourth Bare Witness Theatre Company production to tour to Melbourne in the last 18 months, following the cyberpunk surveillance epic I Have No Enemies (Explosives Factory, April 2024), deliciously dark buddy comedy SAUCE (The Butterfly Club, December 2024), and rollicking solo adventure The Cadaver Palaver (The Butterfly Club, March 2025).
A psychologically charged battle of wits that reveals how the climate crisis we face today was shaped by the invisible hands of Ad men, don’t miss this latest work by Bare Witness Theatre Company during their Melbourne premiere season.
Smokescreen
fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Season: 8 – 13 July 2025
Bookings: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com
For more information, visit: www.barewitnesstheatre.com for details.
Image: Christopher Samuel Carroll – photo by Michelle Higgs | Novel Photographic