Reviews

When I saw The Guilty Feminist podcast was going to do a live show at the Arts Centre I thought ‘that’s interesting, I’ll go’ since most of the time, I feel like a guilty feminist. I’ve never listened to the podcast because as a single mum, I have so many stresses and pressures in my brain I do not have the room to inject any podcasts. If I’m going to unwind, it has to be to something that completely transports me away from my work as a feminist poet, writer and performer.

Candide is a spectacularly crazy show and the audience on opening night lapped up every note, nuance and movement with gusto. Everyone was along for the ride - and what a ride! We travel from Westphalia to Lisbon at the time of the 1755 earthquake to the Spanish Inquisition to Montevideo to Eldorado, and finally Constantinople through a whimsical set of polka dots and fabulously flamboyant costumes!

Carrie Watts longs to escape the two-room apartment she shares with her son Ludie, and self-centred daughter-in-law Jessie Mae. She wants to return to her home town of Bountiful – and her illness makes her wish more urgent. Jessie Mae’s dominance over mother and son – and her reliance on that regular pension cheque - makes that trip even more challenging to take.

Inspired by a true story, this play is set in small-town Australia in 1965.  There are references to Menzies and Vietnam to give us some historical context, and meetings held for the South Bendigo branch of the Communist Party of Australia to give us a grounding in suburbian Victoria.  Apparently the Cold War fear-mongering, unfortunate friendships and betrayal which are highlighted in this play were alive and well in regional Australia in the 1960’s, and that is both interesting and disappointing.