Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.

Malthouse Theatre Revolt She SaidYou are expected to behave… Use the right words … Act appropriately… Don’t break the rules… Just behave. This play is not well behaved. Like a shot of adrenaline delivered straight into the arm, the Australian premiere of Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by UK playwright Alice Birch by Malthouse Theatre this June captures the fury of modern womanhood in the 21st Century.

Alice Birch pokes and prods, slices and dices language into a revolt upon itself, calling it to take arms against the conventions of work, sex, motherhood, aging and love. With anarchic energy, the everyday is turned upside down in ways that are equally funny and disturbing.

A woman is interrogated by two supermarket managers after she sits with her dress over her head on a pile of melons; two lovers negotiate sex; three generations of women have an awkward family reunion. Each of these short scenes are designed to challenge our notions of what is appropriate and acceptable in Western society. Demanding we twist words into action, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. is brash and brazen, it talks fast and demands you keep up with it.

Alice Birch is the winner of the Arts Foundation Award for Playwriting 2014, the co-winner of the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright 2014, and was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award in 2012 and 2015. Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. was first produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company and premiered at The Other Place in Stratford in 2014.

Her theatre credits include: Anatomy of a Suicide, Ophelias Zimmer, We Want You to Watch, Little Light, Little on the inside and Many Moons. Her film includes Lady Macbeth – which was the winner of the International Critic’s Prize at San Sebastian Film Festival 2016, the Best First Feature at Zurich Film Festival 2016 and the winner of Best Screenplay at Turin Film Festival 2016.

“The ferocious energy that courses through this short, sharp shock of a production might be characterized as, well, kind of beautiful… Ms. Birch’s work finds the theatrical exhilaration in civil disobedience.“ – New York Times

Director: Janice Muller Featuring: Elizabeth Esguerra, Ming-Zhu Hii, Belinda McClory, Gareth Reeves, Sophie Ross Set & Costume Design: Marg Horwell Lighting Design: Emma Valente Sound Design & Composition: James Brown

Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.
Merlyn Theatre – The Coopers Malthouse, Sturt Street, Southbank
Season: 21 June – 9 July 2017 (previews: 16 – 20 June)
Information and Bookings: www.malthousetheatre.com.au

Image: Elizabeth Esguerra and Belinda Mcclory feature in Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. – photo by Zan Wimberley