









Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW), Nov 1 – 23, 2024
Playwright: Joanna Murray-Smith
Director: Erica Lovell
Cast: Lib Campbell, Doron Chester, Jade Fuda, Joe Kalou, Mark Lee, Lucy Miller
Images by Noni Carroll
Theatre review
Margot is struggling with her latest book. A star of feminism’s second wave, she seems to have run out of things to say, after publishing a raft of titles over thirty or so years. The 2006 play Female of the Species by Joanna Murray-Smith is itself too, not altogether relevant in today’s climate of progressive politics, but the work is thankfully sound with fundamental principles that continue to prove credible. More important perhaps, is the endurance of its comedy, which we discover to be quite hilarious, while it expounds on the eternally contentious subject of gender inequity.
Intricate direction by Erica Lovell ensures no stone unturned, for a show determined to deliver the laughs. A warm exuberance takes hold from its first moments and never lets up, making it a delightful experience for its entirety. Production design by Paris Burrowes depicts with accuracy the epoch that we slightly revert to, and lighting design by James Wallis is understandably restrained in a production that requires no need for bells and whistles.
It is all about the performances in Female of the Species, and the cast delivers in spades. Lucy Miller provides rich intellectual fodder with her complex portrayal of Margot. Her daughter Tess is relentlessly funny, as depicted by an inventive Lib Campbell. The intruder Molly is imbued thoughtful intensity by Jade Fuda. Male characters appear later in the piece, with Doron Chester, Joe Kalou and Mark Lee all bringing exceptional buoyancy to the presentation.
With each generation of activism, we seem to get closer to a meaningful unravelling, if not dismantlement, of the structures that inhibit and subjugate. With this revisit of Female of the Species, it appears we have discovered a bigger truth in the current fourth wave, demonstrating that an understanding of previous cycles only means that greater discoveries will surely expose further machinations of the patriarchy. It is perhaps unfathomable today that the dual and conflated projects of feminism and decolonisation can ever be completed, but having them as a central purpose for being, or simply as guiding principles, is in itself, a key to fulfilment.



















































































































