Six women on the brink… which one are you? Multi-award winning Australian playwright and author Joanna Murray-Smith’s highly acclaimed play Bombshells – a journey from crisis to hilarity, comes to Melbourne for a limited season at the Malthouse Theatre.
Six monologues explore six women balancing their inner and outer lives with humour and often desperate cunning – ranging in age from a feisty teenager to a 64-year-old widow yearning for the unexpected. Directed by David Bell, this extraordinary one woman show stars acclaimed performer, Christen O’Leary.
“Many of us are trying to lead multiple lives: child, mother, wife, lover, star, giving small doses of oxygen to each and imploding under the weight of so many competing roles,” says playwright Joanna Murray-Smith.
“The women I have written in Bombshells struggle – sometimes hilariously, sometimes tragically – to bridge the chasm between the wilderness of their inner worlds and the demands of their outer worlds. And humour, in the end, is our saviour.”
Meet Meryl, mother of three, trying to find her sanity, the baby’s socks, and time for a coffee. Then there’s Theresa, blushing bride-to-be, walking down the aisle with the love of her life. Or so she thought. And of course Zoe Struthers, siren of the stage, making her illustrious comeback, aided with the help of a little tipple…
Joy, drama, crisis, fear, revelation – there are times where you have to remain cool and calm on the outside. The inside, meanwhile, is a flailing monologue of personal pep talks, perish-the-thoughts and perpetual panic. Bombshells strips back the façade of womanhood to reveal the things that sometimes, we’d just love to say out loud.
Christen O’Leary is a highly accomplished actor with an extensive list of theatre credits to her name, having worked with major theatre companies around Australia. Her most recent role was with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s acclaimed production of End of the Rainbow in the role of Judy Garland, for which she was nominated for a Helpmann Award.
Christen has won a Helpmann Award for her performance in STC’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and has been nominated for Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd and Urinetown The Musical. She has been nominated for seven Green Room Awards, winning twice for A Little Night Music and Company.
Joanna Murray-Smith has written many plays which have been produced throughout Australia and around the world, including Bombshells, which has appeared twice on the West End. She is also a screenwriter and novelist.
Bombshells
The Coopers Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank
Season: 23 – 28 September 2014
Bookings: (03) 9685 5111 or online at: boxoffice.malthousetheatre.com.au
The Melbourne season of Bombshells is part of a national tour. For more information and performance dates, click here.
Image: courtesy of HIT Productions