Female of the Species
by Joanna Murray-Smith
State Theatre Company of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse
April 15- until May.

Alone in her bucolic retreat surrounded only by the vocal and methane emissions of livestock, writer Margot Mason has a deadline to meet And unfortunately, the celebrity intellectual, pioneer proponent of women’s rights and author of the international best-seller, The Cerebral Vagina, has a bad case of writer’s block. Everything, it seems, has already happened to her- and even she is sick of the sound of her own ideas. Then, when bright young Molly Rivers appears, posing as an acolyte but actually brandishing handcuffs and a gun, Margot’s morning takes a rather different turn.

The Female of the Species, Joanna Murray-Smith’s spirited take on the feminist heyday and its consequences has been given a run just about everywhere. It played in Melbourne in 2006 and it will have been given three separate productions in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth by the middle of this year. It is also opening soon in London’s West End.

There are parallels in the play with a certain actual celebrity feminist with alliterative initials – Germaine Greer, author of The Female Eunuch, was herself hijacked in her country house in Essex by an unhinged young woman some eight years ago. But that unfortunate event is given only comic spin here. It is, let us say, a trigger for the play- but this is no drame à clef.

If anything, Margot Mason more closely resembles that bedizened praiser-of-her-own-past Edina in Absolutely Fabulous than the crusty and complex Germs Greer- and the play is the better for recognising it is more farce than theatre of ideas. For her part, director Catherine Fitzgerald, steers this lively State theatre production with full tilt verve, three French doors and a sliding chain.

With designer Mary Moore’s witty yet very serviceable set – a giant white iBook opens up to form an airy drawing room flanked by two life sized figures of Friesian cows- the theme of writing is established, and at her desk, soon to be her literal shackle, is Amanda Muggleton, hair bobbed and dressed in Boomer casual, establishing the commanding presence of Margot M.

Catherine Fitzgerald understands the need for verve and pace- Murray-Smith’s text invites it, it also requires it In the guise of canvassing argumemts The Female of the Species is a balancing act of conflicting views, assumptions, prejudices and over-simplifications. The invader, Molly (capably played by Rhiannon Owen) has come to seek revenge on Mason because she blames her for her mother’s suicide. It is a heavy accusation -and the play implies that ’70s feminists are somehow accountable for the unresolved dilemmas of 21st century women.

Fortunately Mason is given plenty of verbal ammunition in reply and Amanda Muggleton fires it with sardonic alacrity- her deadpan delivery and bristling, impatient intelligence is fun to watch. So too are the counter-arguments -wonderfully embodied in the character of Tess Thornton, Margot’s only daughter who has embraced the traditional role of wife and mother her own mama has made a career of disputing.

From the moment she enters- in Ugg boots, long cardie and teddy bear pyjama pants -and collapses in headlong domestic exhaustion into a bean bag, Michaela Cantwell captures both the role and the comic nexus of the play. It is a terrific performance and the interplay with Muggleton is full of spritzy surprise.

The Female of the Species runs over-long (it could lose twenty minutes, probably) but is amusingly pitched and sharply written. State Theatre’s production has served the text well with Catherine Fitzgerald’s generous direction, Mary Moore’s fine set (lit by ever inventive Sue Grey-Gardner) and a strong cast who know when to play for big laughs and when to just let them bubble along.

“Rite of Reply”, The Adelaide Review, No.339, May, 2008, p.23.