Theatre Review: Influence – Glam Adelaide

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Presented by: Stirling Players
Reviewed: 13 September 2026

For their final show of 2026, Stirling Players bring David Williamson’s politically charged play Influence to the stage. Written in 2005, the play centres around Ziggi Blasco, a successful radio personality whose segments are racist, homophobic, bigoted, and, in particular, anti-Muslim. At home, Ziggi is contending with a troubled teenaged daughter, an elderly father moving in, and a young wife determined to revive her waning ballet career post-baby.

Director Vicky Horwood has assembled a stellar cast for this production. Brendan Clare’s Ziggi is brilliantly vile. His manner is suitably overconfident and the development of the character losing control of his personal life is managed well. Andrew Horwood plays the Ziggi’s father Marco with just the right amount of brokenness, while Carla Hardie brings elegant poise and a huge helping of narcissism to the role of Carmela, and this contrasted beautifully with the humility and hard-working nature of Zehra the housekeeper, played by Turea Blyth. While Blyth’s accent sounded more vaguely European than Turkish, she brought a lovely warmth to the role. John Koch as Tony, the groundskeeper and driver, has few opportunities to shine in this play, but his brilliant mic-drop moment towards the end was well deserving of its applause!

Joanne St. Clair is exceptional as Ziggi’s sister Connie. Every gesture and facial expression is perfectly placed and timed, saying so much more than the mere words the character speaks. Zoe Battersby as Ziggi’s daughter Vivienne is mesmerising, managing both the characters depressed and manic sides in a way that is believable and never over done.

The set is simple but effective, with most of the stage becoming the spacious living room of an expensive Sydney villa while Ziggi’s radio station was tucked away in a corner. The result was a sense of minimalist wealth in the apartment, while the static set meant there was no getting bogged down in scene changes and there was plenty of space for the actors to play with.

When a play is set in a specific year, particularly one that many people remember, era-appropriate props can quickly immerse or remove the audience from the scene. The bulk of the props and set dressing on this stage look stunning, but seeing touch screen smartphones in a world set in 2005 was jarring. In 2005 I had a Motorola flip phone, and the first iPhone was not released until 2007. While old technology can sometimes be hard to find, it’s a shame this detail was lacking.

The play at times jumps between Ziggi’s radio segments and the events going on at home, with music to transition between scenes. This fades in and out well, and the use of the song True Blue at the end is very nicely done. It’s a shame many of the other musical excerpts were clearly MIDI tracks rather than actual songs that would have been playing on the radio, as this at times drew away from the reality of the scene.

Overall, this was a brilliant production. The direction has purpose, the cast has talent, and the script is excellently written and incredibly thought-provoking. It’s a shame there were so few in the audience, as this is a show that really deserves full houses. Do yourself and Stirling Players a favour and go and see this production while you can.

Reviewed by: Kristin Stefanoff

Photo credit: Daniel Salmond