How to Rule the World, Sydney Theatre Co, Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre.

There was a big preoccupation with the state theatre companies during the 80s, 90s and early 2000s to "find the next Williamson". By which they meant "a socially conscious writer who can get large audiences to plays that speak to contemporary issues". Hannie Rayson was probably the closest we got for a while, writing very much in the Williamson style, reflecting the largely middle-class white audience back at themselves in various guises. More recently that style has slipped out of date, and the go-to-writer appears often to be Alana Valentine, who has a more in-depth, closely-researched style that adapts itself to the subject of the play more. But Nakkiah Lui gives the style to us in a modern remix - telling a story of three political operatives who decide they want to make a big statement and who get in over their heads as the forces of compromise, realpolitik and each other start to interfere.

Of course, it's a take that delves a bit deeper than later Williamson (who, well, started to contemplate his navel just a tad too frequently in his later years) - with our three diverse protagonists indulging in all manner of bad behaviour on their way to rediscovering their idealism and learning how to put it into effect. Lui, Michelle Lim Davidson and Anthony Taufa are an engaging trio of narrators/protagonists with just the right mix of cynicism and hope. Support is strong from Hamish Michael as the dupe-who-turns, Rhys Muldoon as an all-too-familiarly media-screened PM, and Vanessa Dowling and Garath Davies as every other character (and with particular congratulations to their costume designers and dressers who give split-second costume-and-wig-changes to get Dowling and Davies through their paces). There's a great score by Paul Mac and Steve Francis that makes sure this is a play that feels truly modern.

IF there are a couple of hiccups here and there (in particular, there's a slight sense that in having Lui in the cast, a couple of spots where her character is slightly underwritten haven't been noticed), this is still a strong piece of contemporary political satire with bite, and well worth the catching.