Jonathan Biggins' Australia Day sets out to show what happens when the country NSW shire of Coriole does January 26. The first half of the play tracks the progress of the shire's Australia Day committee as they plan the day in the daggy Coriole Scout hall. Of course in the second half there's the pay-off of the events of the day itself complete with sausage sizzle, citizenship ceremonies and a national holiday that only really dates back to 1994.

The shire is run by Brian (Pat Gallagher), a mayor keen to move on to Liberal federal pre-selection. Brian's offsider Robert (Thomas McCoy) seems happy to take over as mayor in a bit of illegal manipulation of democratic processes if Brian goes to Canberra. Mateship is all.

Newcomer Greens councillor Helen (Sarah Hull) finds out about Brian's scheming but she also knows how to politic along with the rest of them. Maree (Micki Beckett) from the CWA brings her knitting and seems pretty conservative but knows how to handle the truculent Wally (Neil McLeod) whose views are increasingly at odds with Helen's. Wisecracking schoolteacher Chester (Jonathan Lee) is seen as foreign despite being Australian-born Vietnamese.

Biggins' probing of Australia Day remains fairly much on the surface and the script veers away from developing character or looking at life very deeply, or even having a proper satirical swipe at the problematic day itself. Sometimes it feels like an overextended sketch. At other times, particularly with the tragedy that haunts Wally, it feels like it's going in the direction of a serious play.

However, director Cate Clelland and cast have a deal of fun with the farcical nature of the piece. When the day arrives, the VIPs are missing, the catering is a dangerous mess, there's a thunderstorm and Maree has had to step in for an ill performer in a number alleged to be a tribute to Indigenous culture in a town that doesn't seem to be able to identify any.

Especially notable here are Beckett's ever helpful Maree, wonderfully gormless in a reluctantly donned animal costume, McLeod's Wally, stomping around in grey overalls coping with life by dealing with plumbing and Gallagher's conniving Brian, perhaps summing up some of the contradictions of national identity as he tries to work out whether it is time for medieval mayoral chain and robe or cricket gear. Or both.

And details like the struggling school band and the voiceovers that cover the set changes are dryly funny.

It's a pity, perhaps, that Australia Day was too early in 2012 for Biggins to tackle the dual citizenship crisis.