By Jennifer Beasley.
The ultimate Meta theatre is brilliantly portrayed by the future stars of theatre.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.
What a title! Written by Alice Birch, where it was commissioned in 2014 by the Royal Shakespeare Company (London) and won the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright.
This piece is not for the faint-hearted. A loose collection of vignettes connected by conceits (potato, bluebells, cheese and watermelons), it is the anthem call of oppressed and exhausted women, so tired of the emotional labour, misogyny and objectification in this world.
Even the title is fractured. The cadence abrupt, with almost a resigned feeling. Revolt – then, She Said. But is anyone listening? Then- Revolt Again.
Those thematics underscore the stories throughout this 90-minute play, presented by the always wonderful WIT Incorporated. I was lucky enough to review First Love Is The Revolution production they put on last year. For a small company they pack quite the punch!
This play is ferociously directed by Emily O’Brien-Brown, who has been beavering in the background for the last ten years and directed some amazing pieces, notably, Heroes of The Fourth Turning and Cowboy Mouth. She also produced the lighting for this piece, deftly highlighting scenes when needed without it being heavy handed.
Birch’s play was put on at The Malthouse a few years ago, but I’m betting that the intimate setting of the Bluestone Church adds to the suffocating tension of this performance, that vignette by vignette, mounts tragically at a frantic pace, before the denouement of despair and pleading for a better world where women are treated as equals.
The very clever set design by Silvia Shao (Caught, Romeo & Juliet), made up of three podiums or mini sets, allows for each different vignette to have their own stage. Sometimes the characters jump and rush to another of these podiums, charging down the central nave, the audience placed in a way that breaking the fourth wall is common, an invitation for all of us to recognise and be a part of this Revolt. I felt myself thinking that the central corridor was akin to a vagina – a reflection of the objectification of women that this play represents. The costumes were also excellent. The thematic use of blue, as symbolically stated with the bluebells in the first vignette, which was an inversion of the traditional longing of a man sexualising a woman, as the female character rejects the bluebell’s representation of humility and submission.
Each of the vignettes brought something different to the play. One was the association of an engagement ring to a bomb, the expectations of being property no longer welcomed.
With the rear wall of the old church acting as a screen, a title was projected before each scene. Revolutionise the Language (Invert It), precedes a man obsessed with his own importance. As the only male in this work, Jack Twelvetree (Julius Caeser) really brought it home. Never allowing his own talent to overshadow his fellow actors, his performance anchors and allows the three women to be fully immersed in their roles.
And boy, do they shine! Lansey Feng, who I saw in Hidden Tunes, once again impresses with her acting. When English is your second language, I certainly take note when an actor can nail multiple roles the way she does.
Madeleine Magee-Carr, who I saw act as Rheca in First Love Is The Revolution, brings her A game here. Pretending to fluff lines, a conceit used by all the female actors but can be, at times, confusing, but its purpose in Birch’s script is to spotlight the way people can pounce on women for the slightest mistake.
The final ensemble to round out the cast is Aya (The Comeuppance). They blew me away. In the strongest vignette, involving Feng as the grandmother, beaten down and most likely suffering a head injury, Aya as the daughter, desperate for love, even the slightest kindness, and Magee-Carr as the granddaughter, unable to speak, but who is a vacant vessel for a terrible future. A distraught Aya cuts up the watermelon, chops and chops, as her mother no longer sees her as her daughter, no longer remembers or recognises the domestic violence she has suffered. Pure acting and directing gold.
It is the brilliant acting, directing and fabulous sound delivered by STOZ that makes this deconstructed play much better than it is. Even in the two segments that flatten out the play, the work scene and the supermarket portion, the actors give it their all.
The final is harrowing. Aya asks, if the only way for women to be safe, should they eradicate all men.
The tragedy is that once the play was over, my female companion and I, agreed. It truly is time for the world to take note, and change.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again plays at the Footscray Bluestone Church Arts Space, at 7:30 pm until 29th November 2025, and, at 7 pm at The Bowery Theatre on the 13th of December
Image: Darren Gill
