Well the Missus and I trundled downtown yesterday to catch the Centastage world premiere of Andrew Clarke’s Academy Fight Song and say, it was swell.

The production highlights the cutthroat world of academic politics, rendered in vivid detail by the play’s four characters – none of whom, we hasten to add, bears the slightest resemblance to our splendid colleagues at the fine institution of higher learning where the hardworking staff moonlights.

From the Centastage website:

GREED. BETRAYAL. LUST.

ACADEMIA.

A college professor in need of job security agrees to a request from his department chair to appear at an academic conference with a former student, a literary phenom who is currently living with the professor’s ex-wife. The appearance goes catastrophically wrong and the promise of security proves to be nothing more than wind.

Craig Mathers is arresting as the sympathetic/pathetic contract professor, and Richard Snee shines as the cold, calculating chair. Tyler Catanella and Tracy Oliverio also deliver smart performances.

Beyond that, the writing is sharp and funny, the staging is inventive, and the production – which runs through September 26 – is entirely worth seeing.

Now, take out a blue book . . .