AustLit

'On December 5th 2006, officers of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) raided the administration building of Wollongong City Council, forcing staff to vacate their posts, sealing a floor of the building and leaving hours later with boxes of documents, files, and computer hard drives. This was the first indication the community of Wollongong had of 'Operation Atlas', the ICAC investigation into allegations of corruption involving local developers, Councillors and former staff of Wollongong City Council.

The resulting scandal had reverberations far beyond expectations and culminated in the sacking of the entire Council. ICAC exposed sexual obsessions, envelopes full of cash, and a group of powerful men that met regularly outside a local kebab shop, at a plastic table they called "the table of knowledge".

When news broke of these events, Merrigong, as Wollongong's local theatre company, considered how best to respond to a story that has deeply affected our town and region. To this end, we approached the acclaimed Sydney-based company, version 1.0 to co-produce an original theatre work. The result is a frank, theatrically innovative, and at times moving account of the Inquiry and its subsequent fallout, with the script almost entirely provided by the actual words of the central characters, as recorded in the Inquiry transcripts.

In a year that will see the return of an elected Council for the city of Wollongong, come and participate in a dynamic theatrical dialogue about corruption, power and democracy.' Source: www.merrigong.com.au (Sighted 02/09/2011).