It is rare to find a work as smart as Femoid. but this absolute MUST SEE production totally pulls it off and then some.
Rory, Olive, and Piper are three teenagers on the brink of a bright future. They each have a life of endless possibilities laid out before them, but there is the constant and everyday reminder that the world is not built for them and at any given moment, if they drop their guard, it could cost them their very lives.
Iris Warren’s play is powerfully emotive and uncompromisingly honest, a perfect blend that makes even the characters most mundane moments utterly watchable. Warren intentionally and masterfully leaves so much out, because the audience knows what world these girls live in.
The audience knows the misogyny, violence and online vitriol that women endure. And the audience knows that even within this knowing, nothing seems to change. Warren chooses to neither show nor tell the core through line of the work (apart from the unsettling projections of online incels) and it is in the absence that the work becomes increasingly pointed in its urgency.
Izabella Day directs with a firm hand and a focused vision – with each moment seamlessly sliding into the next, building and building the underlining tension that is deliberately left unbroken.
Day wholeheartedly understands Warren’s intent and innovatively stages the work that continues the loudly unsaid statement to the audience and the reminder that they do indeed know where this story is heading.
Iris Warren, Natasha Pearson, and Roisin Wallace-Nash are a powerhouse ensemble, portraying these characters with absolute respect and without an inch of patronising cliché. There is a symbiosis between these performers that elevates the work and showcases their talents individually and as part of an ensemble.
Roisin Wallace-Nash’s design, Tom Vulcan’s lighting and Lachlan Ives’ sound designs underline the eerie and unsettling tone of the work, exquisitely capturing the evocative themes and leaning into the theatrics of the production.
Femoid. is an urgent work that not only introduces audiences to these extremely talented artists but it also reminds the importance of theatre to shine a light on issues that the wider community constantly chooses not to see.
FEMOID.
Old Fitz Theatre, 129 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo (Sydney)
Season continues to 10 April 2026
Information and Bookings: www.oldfitztheatre.com.au
Images: FEMOID. – photos by SMW Photography
Review: Gavin Roach