Venue: SBW Stables Theatre (Darlinghurst NSW), Sep 4 – Oct 21, 2023
Playwright: Nakkiah Lui
Directors: Shari Sebbens, Ursula Yovich
Cast: Mathew Cooper, Jonathan Jeffrey, Matty Mills, Angeline Penrith, Stephanie Somerville
Images by Brett Boardman
Theatre review
Chandon has been the star of the legendary Blaque Showgirls cabaret show for more than a few years, but her position is in threat of being usurped by the young and ambitious Ginny. Based on the 1995 cult classic Showgirls by Paul Verhoeven, Nakkiah Lui’s highly satirical Blaque Showgirls extends the tradition of stories dealing with the menacing ingenue, for a renewed look at dog-eat-dog capitalism through a feminist lens, examining the entrenched racism fundamental to the enduring dominion of a system derived from our colonial history.
The issues are serious, but the show presents them in deceptively silly ways, for a work of theatre that talks about our darkest matters without relying on painful enactments of trauma. Lui’s work is irrepressibly effervescent, but with sarcasm dripping from every line, it aims to create laughter as it fervently exposes the injustices suffered by those Indigenous to this land. Co-directed by Shari Sebbens and Ursula Yovich, we are treated to a modern farce, chaotic and messy in the best possible ways. Taking inspiration from the campy absurdity of Verhoeven’s film, the style of comedy in Blaque Showgirls is commensurately heightened, with a fierce denial of naturalism that almost seems to make a statement, about wishing to reject the venerated but bland aesthetics characteristic of whiteness.
Production design by Cris Baldwin is all tinsel, glitter and fake fur, playing with notions of taste to deliver a set and costumes that tantalise, and that challenge the meanings and representations of class, within an art form that is essentially Western by tradition. Verity Hampson’s lights are as playful as they are colourful, and along with rapturous sounds and music by Jessica Dunn, the overall vibrancy of this staging proves a joy.
Actor Stephanie Somerville brings an inconceivable authenticity to the scandalous role of Ginny, empathetic one moment, and dangerous another, we are left truly outraged by her antics. As Chandon, the arresting Jonathan Jeffrey brings not only excellent timing, but also marvellous indignation to his spirited portrayal of a discarded diva. Angeline Penrith is extremely compelling as Molly, in a ruthlessly biting performance that really gets to the heart of the entire exercise. Matty Mills as Kyle MacLachlan, and Mathew Cooper as True Love Interest, are both passionate and funny, in a show that takes its politics as seriously as it does its humour.
The people who do bad things in the play never recognise, much less admit to, the racism they enact and perpetuate. They might be able to acknowledge the failings of systems, but will not disengage from them, and will certainly not take blame for benefiting from them. They feign powerlessness, and argue that their absence during the origination of these problems, means they are not to take responsibility. They will not say that they want structural injustices to be preserved, but get hysterical at every little effort to change things. Even when the villains of the piece are unveiled at the end, they do not relent or concede. They relish in playing by the rules, even though the rules are demonstrably harmful. No wonder any attempt at amelioration is characterised as radical.
Suzy Goes See 