Bombshells

A one-woman show by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, Bombshells is a series of six monologues, each showcasing a different character and performed in this production by Christen O’Leary.

With a theatrical dressing room as the backdrop, Ms O’Leary speedily moves from one character to the next with the help of a mirror, clever makeup and quick-fix wardrobe changes. Given that these transformations occur on stage, it’s remarkable how different each character appears, with Ms O’Leary imbuing them with their own distinctive voices, body language and attitude.

From the opening piece, where young mother Meryl is driven to a fever pitch of self-doubt due to her desperate preoccupation with how she’s perceived by those around her, to the final monologue where Judy Garlandesque diva Zoe stumbles her way to a drunkenly belted climax, there’s plenty of chuckles, some laugh out loud moments and a few melancholy turns.

As is probably inevitable in a show like this, some of the monologues seemed to hit the spot better than others – the opening one in particular seemed stridently pitched at the one level throughout, but maybe that was the point. I found the more reflective, quieter characters more emotionally involving, particularly the mid-sixties widow Winsome, who finds herself emotionally and physically naked while reading to a blind man. However the real highlight of the show was the over-the-top Theresa, who starts off as a bride brimming with excitement on her wedding day, only to realise too late that she really wanted not so much the man as the dress. This was uproariously funny in places while managing to score some serious points at the same time.

Alex Paige

PREVIEW AND BUY THE SCRIPT HERE.