“My Brilliant Career is the kind of mainstage show we probably need right now. While in many ways a sad, angry work, there is still so much to enrich the soul.” Veronica Hannon
Sybylla Melvyn, the protagonist of My Brilliant Career, is what we like to describe as a woman ahead of her time. Seeking the unconventional life and refusing to blend in with the crowd, the narrative sees our heroine in a battle of wills with most of the other characters. This is the perfect prescription for an engaging evening of theatre. That adaptor Kendall Feaver and director Kate Champion also opt to explore what it means to be “different” in real life terms makes it thoughtful as well as entertaining.
Set in the decade before Federation, the story is familiar to many from the novel by teenager Miles Franklin published in 1901 or the 1979 film that launched the careers of Judy Davis and Sam Neill. The latter was a sumptuous affair with scene after scene of sunburnt countryside and impeccably detailed colonial interiors. It could be argued the marketable visuals upstaged the plot of a plucky young girl against the world. Not so here. On the Belvoir stage, set and costume designer Robert Cousins has pared it back to something stripped down and raw, back to something, dare I say, less British and more Australian.
Feaver’s script gives the cast, especially a luminous Nikki Shiels as Sybylla some lively dialogue to get their teeth into, which is vital since words are the focus. You cannot help but be caught up in the emotional journey of our would-be artist and want to see her move ahead alone, even with the absence of female role models as a barrier. A few times, I felt I was listening to the writer’s ideas in the mouth of the characters, usually when Feaver was asking us to consider the privileges available to the gentry over many others. I will give her a pass because it meant the poorer individuals, in particular, poor women were given a voice. Feaver’s script also does not necessarily expand on why Sybylla deserves her dream life except for her belief in her own unique specialness. And interestingly, it is never tied to the upper-class life of comfort and culture she can access due to her wealthy relatives.
Champion seems the ideal choice of collaborator for Feaver. Her actors – except for Shiels – embody several roles and while they are often no more than cameos, they feel fleshed out, their bodies full of expression. How good is it to see Tracy Mann on stage again? She is as riveting as ever. Blazey Best, Jason Chong, Tom Conroy, Guy Simon, and the scene-stealing Emma Harvie are all terrific.
My Brilliant Career is the kind of mainstage show we probably need right now. While in many ways a sad, angry work, there is still so much to enrich the soul.
Veronica Hannon, Theatre Now
