Ambition collides with desire in playwright Angus Cameron’s razor-sharp queer comedy, Australian Open. Described as a heady blend of queer comedy, sports theatre, and psychological drama, actor Jane Montgomery Griffiths says it’s just a terrific script
“Funny, sparky, beautifully crafted and with great characters and dramatic dynamics,” says Griffiths who loves that it was such a well written ensemble piece. “It’s also great to do a laugh out loud comedy that is also able to tackle more serious issues like shifting relationships, queer relationships and intergenerational dynamics.”
An exciting inclusion in the Midsumma Festival, expanding queer storytelling into the world of elite sport, something which is still very underrepresented. Griffiths says the play has something for everyone.
“Yes, it’s a queer comedy, but its examination of the shifting desires of everyone in the play – from the gay couple to their frustrated and yearning middle-aged parents – makes it relatable to pretty much all age groups and demographics.
When the play was first written, marriage equality was still a political issue; that’s less of a thing now, but the way the play navigates tensions between definitions and identities (i.e. whether you want to call yourself gay, queer or straight) is extremely relevant and the play explores this with humour, generosity and love.”
Griffiths plays Belinda, the high-powered management consultant mother of the protagonist Felix.
“Belinda faces an existential crisis when her own traditional values are challenged by her son’s queer relationship and so goes off to climb her mountain (both literally and figuratively) to find out who she is,” Griffiths explains.
“It’s a terrific part – she’s brittle, brutal but also yearning, and has some terrifically funny lines. As someone who struggles at even putting on hiking boots, let alone utilising them, I’m in awe of her naïve confidence that she’s going to be able to climb Everest with no training!”
A play reading at MTC in 2019 has taken the play to various states across the country.
“He’s a fabulous writer, says Griffiths about acclaimed queer playwright, Cameron. “It’s a very, very well-made play – structurally coherent, dramatically satisfying, with some deeply empathetic characterisation and some crackingly funny lines.
It’s an absolute joy to be tackling such a well written play. As an actor, it requires a certain heightened style (you can’t fall into naturalism) and a great deal of technical specificity and that in itself is very satisfying to essay.”
No stranger to Midsumma, Griffiths wrote a play called The Milf and the Mistress for Theatre Works at Midsumma a couple of years ago. It was a one woman show about a middle-aged mother of two dealing with her own mid-life crisis by visiting a dominatrix. “I think that play and Australian Open are similar in examining the yearning that underpins aging and feeling that you’re missing out.
Midsumma is a great forum for allowing audiences and performers to explore themes like this that might otherwise be more politely ignored!”
Multi award-winning Griffiths is an actor, playwright and academic. She has worked with, what seems like, every major theatre company across Australia (as well as across the UK) with her acting credits extending into the small screen.
As an actor, she is always drawn first to the quality of the script and the director’s vision.
“In the case of Australian Open, after reading the script and chatting to our director Riley (Director Riley Spadaro returns, having directed it previously in Sydney and keen to revisit it with a fresh perspective) I knew I wanted to do it straight away.”
Griffiths says that often she is cast in highly dramatic, often traumatic roles – so it’s a real pleasure to do something light and fun like this.
After many decades of being involved in the performing arts, Griffiths says it’s a privilege to inhabit other lives as an actor – to bring the writer’s words to life, the director’s vision to the stage and to share the performance with the audience. “It always feels like an honour and a privilege, and I think that’s what keeps me coming back for more.”
Brought to the stage by an exceptional team of actors and creatives, Australian Open dives headfirst into the chaos of competition and the messiness of human connection.
Says Griffiths, “It’s rare at this stage of rehearsals to be so confident in a production, but I can – even a week before we open – confidently say if you come to see Australian Open you will have a great night out.
It’s one of the funniest and most feel-good shows I’ve ever been involved in.
I hope people will leave smiling, feeling good after a great night out at the theatre, and wondering what their own Everest (or Grand Slam final) is to spark joy in their lives.”
January 21 – 31
theatreworks.org.au
