If you are looking for a fantastic night out at the theatre, with laughs a-plenty, then look no further; Joanna Murray-Smith’s The Female of the Species, now playing at the Old Fitz, is just the ticket!
Margot Mason (Lucy Miller) is a much-revered feminist, academic and author who is suffering from writers’ block while trying to finish her newest book. Along comes Molly (Jade Fuda), a fan and former student of Margot. What seems like an innocent attempt at hero-worship turns deadly when Molly pulls a gun and handcuffs Margot to her desk. What follows is theatre at its best. We meet Margot’s exhausted daughter, Tess (Lib Campbell) who may not be sympathetic to her mother’s predicament, Tess’ husband, Bryan (Doron Chester), Frank the taxi drive (Joe Kalou) and finally Margot’s long-suffering publisher, Theo (Mark Lee)
Erica Lovell’s directing is sharp, making Murray-Smith’s 18-year old play seem like it was written for today’s audience. The visual storytelling and the dialogue are sublime.
I don’t have enough superlatives for the performances in this show. The truth of the matter is that every single actor shines in this immaculately well-directed show. Each actor is doing something hilarious the whole time. Lucy Miller as Margot Mason is outstanding, her comedic timing is spot on as she works to be released from a crazed fan while maintaining her point of view, her physical work with handcuffs is particularly hilarious.
Jade Fuda’s Molly Rivers is wonderful as the unhinged gun-toting, hostage-taking former über-fan of Margot, with her switches from doting fan to crazed psychopath to caring hostess and potential love-interest done with both physical and vocal expertise; her interest in Bryan is wonderfully played and the laughs follow with gusto.
Lib Campbell as Tess Thornton is perfection as an exhausted stay-at-home mum who went out to get some air and just kept on walking, You can barely keep your eyes off her as she struggles to stay a awake, gets into the whisky, finds the odd piece of still-edible cereal in her hair and finds that Frank may be just the thing she’s been looking for all along.
Doron Chester hits the right marks as Bryan Thornton, the caring husband who doesn’t quite know how to get his wife to feel the spark for him she might have once felt. Bryan is practical and sensible, and Doron makes this boring nature farcically funny as he delivers stirring speeches and is able to find the perfect action and vocalisation to induce many chuckles from the audience.
And while they are on the stage for far less than the other actors, Joe Kalou and Mark Lee still leave quite the impression on the audienceJoe Kalou packs a punch as Frank the taxi driver, a macho, take-control guy who just wants someone to listen to his story. He is strong, buff and oblivious to the frustrations and desires coming at him from the women in the room. He brings a very different energy onto the stage and it blends beautifully with the rest of the cast.
Mark Lee brings the company together with his fabulously amused Theo Hanover. He giggles and drinks his way through the hostage situation, and is more concerned about getting new book deals than about getting shot. His snide and pretentious in all the right ways.
All the elements of a great play are here; wonderful script, fantastic direction, great use of the space, brilliant performances… I cannot recommend this show enough. Get out to the Old Fitz and be ready to laugh.
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