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Monday August 17, 2026 
17 August 2026
David Williamson and Ensemble Theatre remain one of the strongest combinations in Australian theatre. Top Silk, directed by Mark Kilmurry, is another case won by the North Shore favourite, delivering a thoughtful, funny and fast-moving production.
It’s the late 1980s and Jane Fredericks (Rachel Gordon) is a dedicated legal aid lawyer with a passion for fighting injustice. Her convictions are tested when an old high school flame becomes her next client.
Eddie O’Donnell (Jeremy Waters) still lives in Jane’s hometown of Albury, balancing life as a loving family man with his drug use. Waters is superb, giving Eddie warmth, vulnerability and a sense of inner conflict that makes him one of the production’s most compelling characters.
Jane’s husband Trevor (Nicholas Brown) also works in the law, although at the other end of town, acting as a barrister for wealthy clients. Their careers expose an ideological divide that has grown since their shared Young Labor days.
This is familiar Williamson territory: the gap between what people believe and how they choose to live. Jane and Trevor both want to see themselves as principled people, but their convictions become harder to maintain when careers, money and family are involved.
Trevor faces a decision that could reshape his future, while Jane’s choices threaten to collide with his own.
Their son Mark (Samir Nasser) has fewer doubts about where he stands. He approaches politics and life with an idealism that might have seen him voting Greens a decade early, while struggling under the academic expectations of his successful, career-driven parents.
Nasser is something special. Making his Ensemble debut while still early in his professional career, he looks completely at home on stage. His performance is natural, funny and sharply observed, suggesting a considerable future ahead.
Across the play, each member of the Fredericks family makes choices that alter the course of their lives, sometimes in ways they cannot anticipate.
Ailsa Paterson’s simple but inventive multi-level set is another highlight, giving the production an effective canvas as the action moves between home, chambers and the courtroom.
Top Silk delivers the qualities that have made Ensemble Theatre such an enduring part of Sydney’s theatre scene: Australian stories, strong ideas and intimate character drama.
On the evidence presented, Kilmurry and his cast can be found guilty of an excellent show.