Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2014, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. is an impressive production that picks apart and condemns the systems, traditions, and language that have subjugated women for centuries.
More polemic than polite, Alice Birch’s script sets a myriad of scenes roughly next to each other, or rather Wit Incorporated, have chosen a level of roughness in their staging.
The audience sit in a kind of broken traverse among three different sets of rostra where the scenes unfold. Focus shifts rapidly at times between actors, while also trying to keep an eye on the heading of the scene projected in enormous letters up and away on one side.
There’s something of the presentation that’s uncomfortable, which mirrors a little of the confusion the playwright gives the actors on the page (and thus onto the audience). Apart from one scene, the script has no characters named on the page – only dialogue.
Indeed, the temptation might be to eradicate the confusion and aim for coherence above all else, but Director, Emily O’Brien-Brown, and her cast – Madeleine Magee-Carr, A Ya, Jack Twelvetree, and Lansy Feng – bravely keep things visceral.
Whether chaotic or still, all four performers showed great commitment to their various roles, with lovely storytelling in each scene. A multitude of scenes breaking down and smashing together frenetically towards the end of the show was a highlight. Also deserving of praise is STOZ, whose music and sound design were a perfect accompaniment throughout.
It’s rare to encounter a text with an inherent level of abrasiveness, rarer still to encounter a group of artists successful in bringing that text to such fabulous life, which despite the years since it first premiered has more to say now than ever.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again
Bluestone Church Arts Space, 8A Hyde Street, Footscray
Performance: Wednesday 26 November 2025
Season: 26 – 29 November 2025
The Bowery Theatre – 33 Princess Street, St Albans
Performance: Saturday 13 December 2025
Bookings: www.creativebrimbank.com.au
For more information, visit: www.witinc.com.au for details.
Images: Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again – photos by Darren Gill
Review: June Collins