Theatre / The Department of Responsible Adulting, Canberra Youth Theatre, 40 Cameron Avenue, Belconnen until October 27. Reviewed by HELEN MUSA.

In an adept mix of social satire on bureaucracy and serious commentary, a Canberra Youth Theatre team of actors led by Claire Granata, Luke Rogers and Sophie Tallis have taken over the Hewlett Packard offices in Belconnen for a site-specific original play, The Department of Responsible Adulting – its acronym is DORA.

I say “play”, because a good deal of the evening was spent playing games. I enjoy a good game, so rolled with it.

When I arrived I thought that had been some kind of mistake, because I was asked by front of house staff whether I was ready for my “interview”, not a review.

It turned out to be an exercise in turning the tables, with the kids/public service officers interviewing the adults on our suitability for a job in the department. It plays with two alternating casts.

First up, we had to queue to get lanyards and fill out a questionnaire before one of the young bureaucrats, suited out by costume designer Helen Wojtas, took us on a tour of the offices and conference rooms.

Here the weasel words of bureaucracy abounded, all the more saccharine for coming out of youth mouths.

“Here is the magic,” we heard of a working space that involved a lot of computers in various states of disrepair and a more promising-looking abacus. The walls were adorned with posters and slogans devised by the cast.

On one aisle two young bureaucrats were playing ping pong and in the corner was a sleeping room for tired public servants.

It all made me shudder in relief that I didn’t work in an office like this.

One really scary space was the “ball pit”, full of hard-to-negotiate plastic balls, where we were quizzed, tested and asked to solve problems together.

After a one-to-one interview (I’m sure I failed) a “yellow alarm” went off announcing that the Department was to be made redundant, so the whole audience group assembled to suggest solutions and to be lectured on how we all needed to take responsibility – this was the pedagogical, un-fun part of the evening.

In a final, positive gesture we were asked to write messages for posterity on Lego-type bricks before we were ushered out of this enjoyable but testing theatrical experience with a big “we’ll let you know”.