Sydney Theatre Company
21 April 2023
4 out of 5 fans
Julia is a new work commissioned by Sydney Theatre Company, and tells a fictionalised her-story of Julia Gillard, Australia’s first and only female PM (2010-2013), who (despite a number of accomplishments) is most widely known for her “misogyny” speech in Parliament. The speech serves as an anchor for the storytelling, bookending the production and building up to an astonishingly precise recreation word for word.
Julia was masterfully played by an ageless Justine Clark, who oscillates between Julia and a narrator type role. Clark delivers a lethal performance, ranging from PM Gillard’s youth to her time in parliament. She fuels this fictionalised Gillard with confidence and ambition, as well as warmth and charm. Clark perfectly recalls PM Gillard’s signature accent and (despite not being made up to look like Julia) stirs up in our memory some of the former Prime Minister’s public remarks.
Justine Clark is a hugely talented actress, but she is also gifted a marvellous text by playwright Joanna Murray-Smith. Murray-Smith’s Julia is unapologetic, and direct (just like the former Prime Minister herself).
I can’t help but draw comparisons to STC’s “RBG: Of Many, One”, where Heather Mitchell portrayed another revered feminist hero, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Julia is a powerful and moving production, still highly relevant today in condemning the ‘otherness’ of female world leaders, and the double standards of scrutiny they must face. We do not have to look much further than Jacinda Arden, or recent leaders in Australia, to see that.