Brilliant Lies - In many ways, Susy is just like Gary. Do you agree?

Brilliant Lies - In many ways, Susy is just like Gary. Do you agree?

In many ways, Susy is just like Gary. Do you agree?

Susy Conner, and Gary Fitzgerald. Both are Brilliant liars - and

seemingly total opposite gender counterparts of each other. To say

however, that they are alike simply because they are liars is to place

them into a frame that is far too restricting and incomplete. No, the

similarities - and even differences - between Susy and Gary lie

beneath the surface. It is in these more subtle ways that the two

characters reveal themselves to be more alike than one would think.

At the heart of Susy and Gary's personalities is that one trait that

seems to set them apart from the rest of the characters of the play -

ambition. Theirs is an intense, bordering on violent, ambition - a

drive to succeed in life, to gain what they want - and neither have

any scruples about running over everyone else to get what they want.

They are not above lying to get their way, not above gaining trust and

then throwing it away once they have what they want - this is shown in

no clearer way than when Gary convinces Vince to support him, then

throws him to the wolves at the end - "I lied. Don't get pious Vince.

This place was ripe for a management buy out. These are hard times.

We've got to become much more aggressive, and you know, and I know,

and they know that you haven't got the guts to go in hard."

This manipulation of others extends to include their extremely

vengeful natures. Susy's vindictiveness in lying to Katy about

Marion's sexuality (revenge for Katy telling the truth about her story

- "As soon as I saw that dyke I knew you'd fall in love with her." -

is mirrored by Gary's pleasure in crushing Vince after he reveals his

true colours.

They are cruel to an almost merciless extent - the vicious battle

between the two is more than a fight in order to win the case - it is

a fight for survival. Both Gary and Susy know that if they are not

relentless in the pursuit for triumph, they will be crushed by the

other - another characteristic that they share - the obsession for

power. In a way, the struggle between these two characters is not for

the compensation money - but for the sense of power that comes only

from triumph.

Another trait that they both share is a sense of stubborn self

righteousness that somehow constantly places themselves in the role of