A new play turns the classic Greek tragedy Antigone into a comedy set in a consulting firm. The good news is that no one dies learning about process automation.
Lucy Carpinelli realised that joining a global consulting firm may have been a mistake during a computer programming class at an Accenture training facility in Brisbane.
“In our version, instead of a king, we have a partner in a consulting firm; instead of the royal family of Thebes, we have a group of consultants; and while Antigone’s loyalties are questioned, the question for this play is: ‘Are work colleagues anything like a family?’ Also, no one dies.” “But they also have to be charismatic and charming, and able to retain the loyalty of people and attract people. So, they have a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde quality of being super-friendly and fun, but also being quite unreasonable and extremely demanding, often within the same conversation.”
“Any consultant with any longevity is very canny about how to they conduct themselves. They’re aware that people observe them, and they’re aware that what they do matters to the client,” she says.