The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel stars in new Ensemble Theatre play Neville’s Island that proves ‘men are idiots’

CRAIG Reucassel is still talking rubbish but he’s moved on from dumpsters to drama. The man behind the ABC’s War on Waste is starring in a new play called Neville’s Island.

Craig Reucassel from The Chaser is starring in a new play at Kirribilli’s Ensemble Theatre. Picture: Annika Enderborg

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CRAIG Reucassel is still talking rubbish but he’s moved on from dumpsters to drama.

The man behind the ABC’s War on Waste will be on stage at the Ensemble Theatre at Kirribilli to appear in the play Neville’s Island.

“The play demonstrates that men are predominantly idiots,” Reucassel said.

Reucassel has been cast in the play about four men trapped on an island in the wilds of Tasmania.

Chris Taylor, Craig Reucassel, David Lynch and Andrew Hansen star in Neville's Island.

The play, by Tim Firth, also features fellow members of The Chaser team, Chris Taylor and Andrew Hansen.

“The fourth member of the cast is a real actor Chris Mitchell,” says Reucassel.

Reucassel’s three-part series War on Waste finished screening on the ABC last week and has attracted huge public attention as Reucassel jams trams with coffee cups and piles up used clothing into mini mountains.

“The War on Waste just seemed to resonate with people because we’ve become such a single-use throwaway society,” he said.

Reucassel admits it’s a big leap from filming War on Waste or The Checkout to rehearsing a play but it all fits with his love for eclectic projects.

Craig Reucassel confronts NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian during the filming of War on Waste.

“With War on Waste, you’re responding to what’s going on,” he said.

“When you are rehearsing a play, you can ponder one word for ten minutes and what’s the best way to deliver it.”

He is currently in daily rehearsals for the play which opens on June 29 and he cycles to the theatre across the Harbour Bridge from his home in Annandale.

Taylor and Reucassel appeared at the Ensemble last year in David Williamson’s play Jack of Hearts.

“I thought that was a one-off, a novelty,” said Reucassel

“But during that play I was reading plays backstage and read Neville’s Island and loved it.

Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel David Williamson's Jack of Hearts. Picture: Clare Hawley

He remarked on the play to the theatre’s artistic director Mark Kilmurry who’d appeared in the first American production of Neville’s Island. .

Kilmurry then decided The Chaser team were the ideal blokes to be stranded together on an island, sent there for a team building exercise.

Reucassel plays the company distribution manager whose common sense is — well — rubbish.

“It is a very funny play with some great twists and turns,” said Reucassel.

“Women will relate to it a great deal and men will see bits of themselves in it.”

The UK Telegraph once wrote of the play “Other people’s misery is one of the great comic pleasures of the theatre”.

Neville’s Island continues at the Ensemble Theatre until August 12. Tickets: $42 to $72. Bookings: ensemble.com.au.