If he had to rape someone, in a way that was morally defensible – like if Jesus had a gun to his head – he would rape Princess Diana. She’d make something out of her experience. Inspire women around her. Everything can be justified given the right context, muses the Oscar-winning, self-appointed woke American “feminist” Jay Conway – and women rarely see the wider context. Seated in his tasteful lounge drinking wine, such execrable statements are met with unctuous accommodation by Leigh Carver, who is to direct Conway in a new West End play. His snobbish sensibilities may be offended by this swaggering Hollywood boor, but Carver is determined to have his star drive his career to new heights. So when asked who he would rape, he responds.

Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Brian Meegan and Jeremy Waters in Ulster American. Photo © Richard Farland

You can see how David Ireland’s Ulster American had people storming out of theatres when it first hit in 2018. For its Sydney premiere in an Outhouse Theatre Co and Seymour Centre production, this brazen, savage and brilliantly hilarious black revenge comedy set in the post-#metoo upheaval provokes as much deep-throated laughter as...