Big Girls Don't Cry
Playwright and star Dalara Williams balances the bitter and the sweet in this engaging rom-com-inflected drama. As Cheryl (Williams), Queenie (Megan Wilding) and Lulu (Stephanie Somerville) navigate life's ups and downs, audiences at Belvoir St Theatre are gifted with an all-too-rarely seen window into Blak sisterhood. While for these women, injustice may tarnish everything from going to work to walking the streets, where racist cops roam – nothing in the world can shake the sacred joy of a trio of girlfriends gathered in a bedroom and getting ready for a night out, tearing through outfit options and gossiping. Not even Cheryl's concern for her beloved Michael (Mathew Cooper), who's serving in Vietnam. However, could the distracting pull of the charming Milo (Nic English) be strong enough to tear her away from re-reading the same old love letters?
Inspired by her grandmothers' stories and snapshots of history found in family photo albums, Williams has crafted an uplifting and entertaining drama that also doesn't shy away from the violence and injustices of our all-too-recent history, and prompts us to question how much has really changed. Big Girls is not necessarily ground-breaking in its form, and it needn't be, especially with a cast this good.
Dalara Williams balances the bitter and the sweet in this engaging rom-com-inflected drama... an all-too-rarely seen window into Blak sisterhood
In particular, Megan Wilding cements her place as one of the most charismatic presences on the Sydney stage as Queenie – she can convey more with a twitch of her eyebrow or a tilt of her head than any spoken dialogue could ever hope to. In a moment of tremendous vulnerability, she delivers a tearful confession about her fear of letting in the one man who could love her fully – a speech that will strike a chord with any misfit woman who has been told that she is both 'too much' and 'not enough'. Queenie's humour, her outgoingness, and her love of an attention-grabbing dress are all part of the armour she wears to survive a cruel world. But this script also doesn't do her the disservice of stripping away her unique qualities in order to allow her to grow.
Meanwhile, Guy Simon deserves an honourable mention for his performance as Cheryl's outspoken brother Ernie, it's an interesting contrast to his recent turn on the Belvoir stage as the star of Jacky, and his evolving dynamic with Wilding's Queenie is particularly delightful. Heartbreak High star Bryn Chapman Parish also holds his own as a detestable police officer; and Nic English gives us an "other man" that we can root for in Milo, also convincingly holding space for the precarious line he walks as a second-generation Italian immigrant in 1960s Australia.
The production does crave a little more polish. For example, the revolving stage makes for some interesting movement and smooth transitions, but at times, it can be difficult to hear the actors' voices over the rumble of its operation. Director Ian Michael is certainly not taking as many big swings as he did with his recent reimagining of Picnic at Hanging Rock for STC, and perhaps that's a good thing – getting too experimental here would only distract from the deeply human drama of it all.
However, for a debut presentation, Big Girls is a deeply charming and hopeful story that harnesses the great empathy machine of theatre to achieve one of the greatest things it can do – which is to understand ourselves, others, and our society more deeply. It is an accessible entry point to learn more about the Indigenous rights movement in this country, the empowering legacy of Aboriginal debutante balls, and also, it's bloody good drama that we need to see more of.
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The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
From ‘unpublishable' to acclaim and starry adaptations: Max Porter's Grief is the Thing With Feathers at 10
The final words of Max Porter's Grief is the Thing With Feathers are 'Unfinished. Beautiful. Everything'. So it has been for the slender novella, about a father and his sons grieving the loss of their wife and mother. Somewhat improbably for an experimental hybrid of poem and prose featuring a giant talking crow, Porter's debut has not only been a massive success, but has continued to evolve. Since it was published a decade ago, it's been translated into 36 languages and adapted for stage and screen, including a theatre show starring Oscar winner Cillian Murphy and a film starring Benedict Cumberbatch, due for release later this year. The book's latest evolution is an Australian stage adaptation, premiering at Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre this month. There have already been five stage productions, and a dance adaptation and Slovenian puppet version are on the way; an opera is in development. All this seems remarkable to Porter. 'You know, Grief was not even a publishable proposition to most people that looked at it first,' he says. Porter was more aware than most debut writers of the odds stacked against his novel: he was working in publishing when he wrote it, and keenly aware how his book's fragmentary narrative and experimental prose – which the Guardian described at the time as 'a freewheeling hybrid of novella, poem, essay and play-for-voices' – was risky. Then there's its dense threading of literary references and allusions – and the anthropomorphic crow, inspired by Ted Hughes' 1970 poem cycle Crow. Porter wrote Grief in the gaps of a busy life working in publishing and fathering two young boys, inspired by his experience of losing his father as a child and by his relationship with his brother. In the story, a writer and his two young sons grappling with fresh grief are visited by a human-sized talking crow, who takes up residence in their flat and assumes the role of therapist and babysitter – or as Porter has described him, 'Lady in Black and Mary Poppins, analyst and vandal'. The story chimed with readers, finding an audience as much through personal recommendations as through rave reviews and awards (including the £30,000 International Dylan Thomas prize). Dua Lipa, introducing the novel to her book club audience in April, described it as a 'lyrical, surreal meditation on loss' that simultaneously broke her heart and made her laugh. Reflecting on the enduring appeal and many adaptations, Porter says: 'I guess the imaginary crow and, you know, the everlasting conundrum of human grief, is enough for people to want to play around with still.' Most authors are happy to leave adaptations to others, approving the parameters of the project and then stepping away. Not Porter: he likes to muck in. 'I'm 98% collaboration,' he says – perhaps surprisingly, given he's published four books in the last decade, and just finished his fifth. 'Like, occasionally I will find myself on my own, needing to get some work done, but generally I want to be working with others.' Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning He sat in on early workshops of the Irish stage version with Cillian Murphy and director Enda Walsh, attended a work-in-progress showing of the dance version premiering in Birmingham next year, and has had several chats with the Belvoir team over the show's long gestation. That's not to say he's proscriptive about adaptations: 'I always say this: the book is yours. It's supposed to be fluid and pull-apart-able,' he says. 'It's a book with lots of white space so that the reader can do that work, anyway. You know, it's your flat, it's your sibling relationship. It's your crow.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion But for Porter – a 43-year-old who converses with the enthusiasm of a preteen boy – discussing his work with other artists and storytellers is energising. 'I had a Zoom chat with [Australian director Simon Phillips] the other day, and it was like, right into the belly of the thing – right into the syntax of it, and the meaning behind some of Crow's language and some of the dad's material. And I was like, this is right back to being interesting again for me,' he says. The Belvoir production, co-adapted by Phillips with lighting and set designer Nick Schlieper and actor Toby Schmitz, will feature video, illustrations and a live cellist on stage. Schmitz, playing both Dad and Crow, says the production is infused with the make-believe spirit of theatre and child's play. 'Sleight of hand, misdirection, all the old theatre magic tricks come into play. Can a blanket be not just a blanket? What can a feather be? … There's something incredible about the suspension of disbelief in theatre.' Schmitz, who also works part-time in his family's bookstore in Newtown, heard about Porter's novel from customers long before he read it: 'People are always asking for it,' he says. 'The book is so magnificent, the text is so unique and delicious … I think it lends itself wonderfully – quite effortlessly – to performance.' He relates to the character of Dad, a 'literary boffin type figure', as both an author (his novel The Empress Murders was published in May) and a father – at time of speaking, juggling rehearsals with the whirlwind of school holidays. Crow is something more mysterious, however – 'full of infinite possibility,' he says. 'I've been swinging from Mary Poppins to Tom Hardy thuggery.' Porter, who will visit Sydney for the play's opening, says he's excited to see what the Australian team have made of his novel. 'I think I find something different every time,' he says of the story's various iterations. 'It's still interesting – it's not like a piece of dead, old, early work. For me, it feels like a living, breathing proposition still, that keeps moving.' Grief is the Thing with Feathers is on at Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, 26 July to 24 August
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Inside baby killer Constance Marten's dark spiral from aristocracy to bin scavenging
Constance Marten, who has this week been found guilty of manslaughter, has close links to the Royal Family, while her aristocratic family's former estate featured in a period drama starring Gwyneth Paltrow Constance Marten's estranged father, Napier, turned his back on his £115 million fortune after he had an 'awakening', seeking a very different life to the privileged one he was born into. His daughter, too, would take a very different road from the one expected of her, which would ultimately lead to a dock at the Old Bailey, following a harrowing chain of events. Aristocrat Marten and her boyfriend Mark Gordon, who stood accused of killing their newborn baby daughter Victoria, were this week found guilty of manslaughter. Marten, 38, and Gordon, 49, took tiny Victoria on the run in January last year to prevent her being taken away by social services, the court heard. The couple, whose four other children were taken into care, spent weeks living off-grid in the height of winter, with Victoria's body later found in a Lidl carrier bag in a disused shed. The couple were found to be repeatedly disruptive in the courtroom, with Birmingham-born Gordon even calling upon "compassionate and merciful" King Charles to issue a royal pardon. He begged: "I ask the King in his mercy and those who work for him to help me." As baffling as such a plea may sound to outsiders, privately educated heiress Marten enjoyed an upbringing not so very far removed from those who live out their days behind palace walls. Here we take a look at Marten's wealthy aristocratic background with historical ties to the royal family and why her father left his family and his huge fortune for a new life abroad. Marten was born in 1986, the eldest of four children welcomed by Napier and his wife, Virginie De Selliers, daughter of the Marchesa d'Ayala-Valva. She grew up with her brothers on the 5,000-acre Crichel estate in Dorset, where the former Tatler It-girl recalled enjoying "naked picnics, siestas amid [hay bales], and tractor scoops". The incredible Georgian property has featured in period dramas, including the 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Napier, who was a page to the late Queen Elizabeth II, was heir to a £115million fortune but left his family and his inheritance behind when he travelled to Australia in 1996 after having an 'awakening'. According to the Daily Mail, he experienced an "epiphany" over his materialistic life, shaved his head and lived in a lorry before training in head massage. Napier reportedly went whale watching and found it so emotionally charged that he cried "almost non-stop" for a week. He is also said to have had an out-of-body experience while standing with a group of Aboriginal people on a clifftop. Marten was nine when her father went to Australia. He left Crichel to her brother Maximilian, and it stayed in the family until 2013, when it was bought by American billionaire Richard Chilton. Eton-educated Napier later returned to the UK to work as a tree surgeon alongside his son Tobias. Napier was the fourth child of Mary Anna Marten and George Marten. Mary was the goddaughter of the late Queen Mother and a trustee of the British Museum. She attended the Brownies at Buckingham Palace with Princess Margaret and inherited Crichel when her father died during the Second World War. Marten's grandfather was a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy and was an equerry to George VI. Their wedding in 1949 was attended by George VI, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret. Marten's mother, Virginie de Selliers, and Napier divorced after he left for Australia, and she is believed to have remarried. She is a psychotherapist specialising in trauma, family therapy and grief, with private practices in London. In February 2023, while Constance was still missing, she wrote a letter to her, appealing for her to return and offering her support. She wrote: "You have made choices in your personal adult life which have proven to be challenging, however, I respect them. I know that you want to keep your precious newborn child at all costs. "With all that you have gone through, this baby cannot be removed from you, but instead needs looking after in a kind and warm environment. "I want to help you and my grandchild. You deserve the opportunity to build a new life, establish a stable family and enjoy the same freedoms that most of us have. "Constance, I will do what I can to stand alongside you and my grandchild. You are not alone in this situation. We will support you in whatever way we can." By the time of her arrest in 2023, Marten was scavenging in bins for food, her off-grid life a far cry from the luxuries she'd once enjoyed. After completing her studies at the £30,000-a-year St Mary's Shaftesbury, Marten went on to achieve a 2:1 degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Leeds, which saw her spend a year abroad in Cairo. An interview given to the society publication Tatler in 2008 sheds light on how the heiress spent her days. Then, just 18, the "babe of the month" opened up about the 'best party' she'd attended, revealing: "Viscount Cranbourne's party in Dorset – the theme was the Feast of Bacchus. There was a gambling tent and bunches of grapes hanging from the wall. It was like a debauched feast from ancient Greece." An avid traveller, Marten, or 'Toots' as she was known to posh pals, spent time in India, Nepal, Uganda and South America, and, at 19, also spent several months living at a Christian cult in Nigeria, which proved to be an unsettling ordeal. For a while, it seemed that ambitious Marten had a bright future ahead of her. After training in journalism, Marten worked as a researcher for Al Jazeera and also interned at the Daily Mail. She then moved to Essex, where she studied drama at the East 15 Acting School. As reported by The Independent, a drama friend recalled: "She was just beautiful, full of life, full of kindness . . . and she was very, very talented." However, everything changed in 2016 when Marten dropped out of the course. By this point, she was already involved in a relationship with Gordon, whom she'd met in a Tottenham incense shop in 2014. Two years later, they were married, in an unofficial ceremony held in Peru. As reported by the Mail Online, sources claim Marten's parents hold "odious creep" Gordon responsible for the grim fate that befell their daughter and grandchildren, describing their meeting as a "cliff edge" moment. Referring to Gordon as a "controlling predator", the source alleged: "Constance was the most beautiful, fun, lovely girl you could imagine. She was clearly quite a catch for him, and he clearly got his claws into her. "She has had the money and the wherewithal to settle down to family life like anyone else. Instead, she has preferred what is effectively a life on the run." However, during her trials, Marten gave a different account of her downfall, claiming her family had cut off her funds and hired private detectives to track her and Gordon. She stated: "I had to escape my family because my family are extremely oppressive and bigoted and they wouldn't allow me to have children with my husband. They'll do anything to erase that child from the family line, which is what they ended up doing." BBC News reports that, at the time police were looking for her and Gordon, Marten had more than £19,000 in her bank account, having received regular payments from the Sturt Family Trust via Hoares Bank between September 2022 to mid-January 2023, totalling £47,886. Marten and Gordon, of no fixed address, both denied manslaughter by gross negligence of their daughter Victoria between January 4 and February 27, 2023. The defendants also denied perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty, and causing or allowing the death of a child. A first jury was discharged after being unable to reach a verdict on the charges of manslaughter by gross negligence and causing or allowing the death of a child. But they found both Marten and Gordon guilty of child cruelty, perverting the course of justice and concealing the birth of a child. The defendants then lost an appeal against these convictions. They will now be sentenced on September 15.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Kimberley Walsh admits Girls Aloud are 'in a different stage' as she reflects on emotional reunion and reveals how their kids were 'blown away' on tour
Kimberley Walsh has admitted that her Girls Aloud bandmates are now in a 'different stage' of their lives as she reflected on their emotional reunion tour. The iconic girl band was made up of Kimberley, 43, Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding, until her tragic death from breast cancer in 2021, aged 39. In May last year, the group returned to the stage for the first time in 11 years to go on a huge UK tour, where their late bandmate was kept as the focus throughout. The show included songs dedicated to Sarah, as well as emotional montages of the late star and a rendition of I'll Stand By You featuring her vocals. In a new interview, Kimberley, 43, admitted it was the band's biggest challenge to ensure Sarah had her moment. She told the Mirror: 'That was a tough moment every night, but we all needed it too, we all needed the minute. As hard as it was, I loved that part of the show.' The tour was also special for another reason - it was the first time Kimberley, Cheryl, and Nadine's children saw their mums, and 'Auntie Nicola,' as popstars. 'I think it was a little bit mind-blowing for them,' Kimberley laughed, explaining that her children - Bobby, nine, Cole, seven, and two-year-old Nate - mostly know her for her presenting work. The singer revealed that the group brought their children along on the tour buses and said it was fun for the kids to enjoy the celebrations together. Nadine's daughter Anaíya is just six months younger than Kimberley's eldest, Bobby, while there is are only a few months between Cole and Bear (Cheryl's son with the late Liam Payne). Kimberley added: 'For us as mums, we're in a very different stage of our lives, so we were able to enjoy it for ourselves but also see it through their eyes.' It comes after the star revealed that during the rehearsals for the reunion, the group had 'let it all out' so that they could be strong enough to get through the live shows. However, she added how important they all knew it was to follow Sarah's wishes and show how she was an integral part of the band. She also admitted that despite it being 'tough' for them, they wanted to be able to honour and remember their friend. Speaking to The Sun, she explained: 'She wanted us to do it. She made it clear when she was here, but equally we felt it isn't Girls Aloud without her. She's such a massive part of it, so we wanted to keep her part of it. We're trying to keep her spirit alive.' She continued: 'There wasn't just one moment of her, we made the whole show have a thread of her throughout. And at times we were like: "Is this actually too sad?" Because for us it felt just gut-wrenching. But then, equally, she deserved that time and for people to remember her.' Kimberley said the end result was 'crazy emotional', but described hearing Sarah's vocals in arenas as 'epic' and confessed celebrating their bandmate alongside the fans had ended up being a 'cathartic' experience for the group. She said: 'It's been cathartic for all of us to have that time and to almost grieve with the fans. They've grown up with us. 'And there's no denying that her energy was really missed on stage. But I think everybody could feel that she was still very much intertwined within the show and the band.'
