Theatre
The Female of the Species
St James Cavalier

Writers are funny creatures at the best of times. They have a strong desire to share their creative insights with the world at large while occasionally finding it difficult to relate to those nearest and dearest to them.

It was apparent that director Chiara Hyzler had a lot of fun with the script and its staging...- André Delicata

The power they can exert over the thoughts and choices of others by influencing them with strong, convincing, pithy arguments is quite remarkable as well as potentially dangerous.

Margot Mason certainly learns it at her expense in Joanna Murray-Smith’s The Female of the Species, staged over the last two weekends by Unifaun Theatre.

Celebrity feminist Margot Mason, played by a brilliant Polly March, is struggling with a bad bout of writer’s block in her secluded country home: a set designed fittingly by Romualdo Moretti; when she is visited by an ex-student of hers, Molly Rivers.

This random visit, which appears to be the impulsive act of a star-struck fan, quickly degenerates into a home invasion complete with gun, handcuffs and hostage situation as an excellent Maria Buckle portrays the slightly deranged and very scornful Molly, whose mother had given her up for adoption and then committed suicide after becoming indoctrinated by Margot Mason’s theories.

The interaction between Ms March and Ms Buckle was a pleasure to see – their dynamics and timing were spot-on; and when they were joined by Laura Best’s Tess Thornton, it became a theatrical delight.

The script’s witty, fast-paced dialogue was based on a real-life incident which occurred to feminist Germaine Greer and what Ms Murray-Smith did was to transform a potentially nasty situation into a comedic gem. She managed to make being held at gunpoint funny.

Tess, Margot’s daughter, epitomises the antithesis of what her mother has been campaigning about all these years. She is a harried housewife and mother of three, run off her feet and according to her mother “stupid for not fulfilling her full potential”.

Ms Best did a wonderful job in bringing this character to life and her expressiveness matched Ms March’s perfectly.

Taking Molly’s side, Tess encourages her to shoot her mother, because she’s “really rather mean to her”. For the greater part of the performance, the female representations of these three women and their different perspectives, allows the audience, through humour, to evaluate the validity of feminist empowerment and whether it actually leads to another form of entrapment – the blind desire to become the ultimate super-woman: to the detriment of what women really desire as individuals.

It’s just another form of conformity – sanctioned by women who firmly believe in what they are preaching.

Enter Steve Hili’s Bryan Thornton, a bumbling, well-meaning broker whose good nature is not quite matched by his dimming intellect. His concern for Tess and the children leads him to chip in with his tuppence’ worth of criticism of Margot’s behaviour; resulting in a smitten Molly and a new Tess, willing to forgo her marriage to find herself again, with Bryan’s full blessing.

Further interference by Frank, the taxi driver, played by an earnest and angry Anthony Ellul, keeps adding more mayhem to Molly’s hostage-situation; which is now really a shambles and resembles a talk-show more than a home invasion. The two men’s perspectives shed more light on what the male perspective on such hard-line ideas like Margot’s are; and further destabilise her arguments, which, as pointed out by a hurt and disillusioned Molly, were inconsistent and contradicted themselves over the 30 years of their development. Mr Hili’s and Mr Ellul’s parts, while shorter, were no less funny and rounded out the action nicely.

The arrival of Margot’s publisher, the flamboyant Theo Reynolds, portrayed in a cameo by Edward Mercieca – as always in good form, leads to a rather quick conclusion, tying up loose ends and giving the characters possibilities for new beginnings.

It was apparent that director Chiara Hyzler had a lot of fun with the script and its staging as was evident by the cleverly timed pauses, blocking and choreography. Together with her well-chosen cast, she contrived to use the acting space to the best of its potential and created a highly-enjoyable, top-quality performance.