Salad Days Collective return rowdily with Scenes with Girls by Miriam Battye, a story exploring the contradictions of friendship between three younger women, living lives alone, together. Set primarily in the intimate setting of a share-house lounge room and adjoining bathroom, Scenes is a chaotic, compelling and a non-linear romp which traverses the entire emotional spectrum, successfully balancing both light and dark themes throughout. The play is a thoughtful choice, which seems well aligned with the Salad Days Collective, a fast and fiercely evolving creative company, guided by the principle that theatre can’t be polite to be powerful.
A noted playwright and screenwriter, Miriam Battye writes unapologetically and with freedom; In interviews, she acknowledges her tendency to actively complicate her plays, and Scenes with Girls is a likely example of that, perhaps deliberately evasive in parts (what is the actual deal with Fran’s relationship?!) leaving the audience a lot to contemplate and resolve, and the performers plenty of wonderful space to play in. While certain plot points don’t all wrap up clearly or fairly, this adds honesty and texture to the tale; It is fair to say that sometimes friendship is the greatest love story of all, and the path to true love never did run smoothly. Themes and dialogue come from a reality of twenty-something females, yet Scenes with Girls transcends gender and age, boasting belly laughs to boot.
The central performers each bring their own magnetic madness to the stage. Lou and Tosh (Hannah Ward and Jasmine Prasser) are the main protagonists, and regular antagonists here; Fran is certainly part of the story, but she is typically on the outside looking in. It’s not entirely clear how much she deserves that based on the past, but she might do – there are of course different subjectivities and recollections within any friend drama! Hannah Ward and Jasmine Prasser shine on stage, projecting honest emotional connection in their individual ways, committed to their characters, and each other. Lou and Tosh each embody the contradictions of the play itself, which the performers have embodied beautifully – vulnerable yet vicious, funny and fallible, brave but not always. As Fran, Georgina Sawyer brings sympathetic restraint, winning the audience’s loyalty and concern. Fran cares and tries in a world where such qualities can be construed as failings – or is it that she forces things too much?
Director Ruby Sanders and the entire Creative team have done a fine job with Scenes with Girls, putting their guts out on stage with courage, style and humour. I enjoy the girl grunge of the set and mood-making sound and lighting design, operated with impressive precision. Scenes with Girls is altogether a play worth seeing and makes me reflect on the transformative and provocative power of both theatre and friendship. A complex, contemporary tragicomedy that is enthusiastically recommended.
To book tickets to Scenes with Girls , please visit https://queenslandtheatre.com.au/plays/scenes-with-girls.
