 |
| Emma Smith & Vidya Rajan in Sleepover Gurlz |
Theatre can happen anywhere. It can happen in big rooms,
small rooms, warehouses, carparks and shipping containers. I saw a show on the
streets of North Melbourne once. And one in the back of a car.
Sleepover Gurlz
isn’t the first play I’ve seen performed in a bedroom, but this one uses its
space and its premise to great effect; the intimacy is vital and this show is as
much about the bedroom space as it is about the women sharing it.
Before the show, the audience is ushered upstairs to a
living area to colour and paste and find their inner child. It’s an irresistible
moment of pleasure that you almost regret being dragged into the bedroom for
the party itself.
Creators and performers Emma Smith and Vidya Rajan are six-year-old
girls, welcoming the audience to their sleepover party. We are the other girls
at the party, sharing snacks and interacting with the friends who have invited
us over. It’s charming and funny and silly. There’s a game of “Chinese whispers”
and the uninhibited thrill of girls just wanting to have fun.
But little girls grow up and the seeds of their friendships
and relationships are sewn at those earliest encounters. They keep having
sleepover parties but there’s hierarchies built at six that might never change.
It’s harder and harder for these girls to just have fun, especially when they
hit puberty and they are worrying about looking the best and smelling the
greatest.
And later, when these women’s sex lives begin, a sleepover
becomes much more fraught – if he even stays at all.
For a show in a bedroom, with twelve audience members on
chairs around the walls and the entire performance taking place on the bed,
there was some impressive design choices made with lighting and sound (by
Xanthea O’Connor) and video projection. These theatremakers didn’t slide by on
a strange venue, they’ve developed a fascinating, complex theatrical work.
Sleepover Gurlz is
funny on the surface but much more complicated underneath. This is a show about
oppression and anxiety and women finding a way to function in a world that is
not designed for them. It’s about retreat and safe spaces and joy and
excitement.
In a world where the news and social media is a fuel for
anxiety, this is a show about feeling tired and being tired.
And it’s incredible.
Comments