The Removalists (1971) is a play written by Australian playwriter David Williamson. The main issues the play addresses are violence, specifically domestic violence, and the abuse of power and authority. The story is supposed to be a microcosm of 1970s Australian society.
The play begins in a police station as the Constable Neville Ross meets Sergeant Dan Simmonds. This is Ross’s first placement, as he has just finished his police training. Simmonds establishes his authority by continually patronising Ross. Simmonds explains his antipathy to modern police training, and his comments reveal him as sexist and chauvinistic.
Kate Mason and Fiona Carter (who are sisters) enter. Kate encourages Fiona as she tells Ross and Simmonds about her husband Kenny’s physical abuse of her. Simmonds gets Ross to take photos of Fiona’s bruises, his actions imbued with sexual intent. Simmonds convinces the insecure Fiona of the importance of the actions, saying that her bruises should be “visible signs of abuse to the medically untrained eye”.
The sexual innuendo is developed as the two sisters display competitive attitudes for Simmonds’ attention. Simmonds arranges for himself and Ross to help Fiona move her furniture to her new flat and the atmosphere suggests that Simmonds justifiably expects sexual favours from the sisters in return for his help. They then depart for Fiona and Kenny’s flat.
At the flat, Kenny returns home drunk and becomes violent, and the Removalist, who has been contracted to remove Fiona’s belongings, continually complains. Simmonds and Ross burst in, and cuff Kenny, while the Removalist proceeds to remove the furniture. Tensions rise, until Ross, provoked beyond all reason beats up Kenny, who then dies suddenly from a brain haemorrhage.
