“… judges, singing and dancing barristers, a showgirl, and more!”
Julia Newbould
[5] Stars
Venue: Darlinghurst Courthouse
Sydney
Dates: 4-25 January, Sydney Festival
Justice Sydney-style delivered in a model murder
It’s Sydney, it’s 1954 and women are at home in the kitchen, laundry or doing the ironing unless, that is, they’re a famous model and they’re looking for their gambling, philandering boyfriend who’s about to get a bullet through the head.
Sydney Festival has done an excellent job in recreating the 1950s trial of Australian model Shirley Beiger, charged with killing her lover. In what was billed as the trial of the century, Shirley was caught in a media storm. Her good looks and plight elicited much sympathy from women who supported her action, and even called out messages of support in the courtroom. Cleverly set in the Darlinghurst Courthouse, the site of the actual trial, A Model Murder mixes reality and fiction to create an entertaining, clever, sharp and very Sydney production.
The cast is astonishingly good. Amber McMahon is a standout as Lyal Richardson, the 2KY radio announcer and Chequers host. She tells the story, provides the context and is generally witty, with good lines delivered to perfection. Anthony Taufa, who plays the defence lawyer Phillip Roach is, as always, a joy to watch. Blazey Best as both Shirley’s mum Edith and Arthur Newman’s (Ryan Morgan) other woman combines her acting talent with her singing – and manages to croon Kylie’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head in a very entertaining moment. It was a lovely treat that the talented duo from Murder for Two, Maverick Newman (who played Junie the court stenographer and Donny, Shirley’s neighbour) and Gabbi Bolt (who was a court official) were also part of the cast. And Marco Chiappi was excellent as the frustrated prosecutor.
The seven actors certainly had terrific material to work with. The script was tight and covered a lot of the case, the period, the gender inequalities, while keeping it all light and entertaining. There were lots of laughs, audience participation and one lucky member of the audience was even seconded to the role of judge for the proceedings. Sitting in the courtroom setting, the audience is given roles to play. Those who make up the jury were given moustaches and hats to wear and lines to mumble – “men, men, men, men, men” – because only men are able to serve on juries in 1954.
Opposite the men was the women’s gallery – the best-looking women were historically chosen for these cases (similar to talk shows where audiences are chosen for their looks when being in view of the cameras). In this show, those sitting there are given scarves and glasses to wear to improve their feminine looks! Next to the women’s section was the press. In the back and upstairs were the rest of the audience representing the general public. There was a very Australian feel to the production. It included quips about women not being allowed into pubs until the 70s, that Sydney never closed, and you could get a feed up to 4am, that women would not be judged by their female peers until the 70s. It was on message – that a woman could sway a jury and the public when she was clearly guilty – as long as she was a good-looking model.
Australian music helped bring the setting up. Chequers in Kings Cross, where the action leading up to the murder took place was the venue where AC/DC first performed. This, of course, meant that a few AC/DC numbers, Jailbreak and Will I Ever See Your Face Again were featured. For good measure, Sadie the Cleaning Lady, and Australian Crawl’s Reckless were also thrown into the mix. There were judges, singing and dancing barristers, a showgirl, and more!
This is a story that was so incredible, and so well told here that this should live beyond the short sold-out Festival window. Playwright Sheridan Harbridge introduces the play with: ‘Come to court to see a trial, have you? There’s murder, violence, adultery, treachery, everything that Sydney holds dear.’ “An enormous amount of mystery still shrouds the Shirley Beiger story. The coverage of the trial, while extensive, didn’t always allow for easy answers about how these events played out, or why,” Harbridge says. “The story of Arthur Griffith’s death, and Shirley’s subsequent trial for his murder, has the intoxicating lure of old-world Sydney. The story of crime and glamour, on the streets of the Cross in 1954, sent Sydney into a frenzy. “Many aspects of the Beiger trial are bizarre. Sometimes, properly bonkers. We found ourselves often thinking the audience will believe the facts of the case to be a written fiction, yet parts of the dialogue in this production are lifted directly from court transcripts, police documents and contemporaneous newspaper articles, and they often read like lines from a soap opera or a farce.” Bringing the real transcripts together with the asides of the various actors builds a romp of a courtroom drama.
While a quick internet search helps us know the outcome of the trial, the way this production unfolds is one which holds our attention for the full 110 minutes (and I’m sure we could have stayed for more!).
5 gavels
Julia Newbould, Theatre Now
