The number one rule of programming the repertoire for a major theatre company is: never programme an unwritten play. I broke that rule in 1995 when, as head of Sydney Theatre company, I programmed David Williamson’s Heretic for STC’s ’96 season. But David and I were on a roll. The previous season’s effort, Dead White Males, had been a huge, if controversial, hit – it eventually played five Sydney seasons and completed two national tours. It captured – and this is one of David’s great talents – the national mood of the moment: a scepticism about political correctness and the nanny state it announced. And John Howard was about to be elected Prime Minister.