Review by Scott Whitmont
Given the creativity, vision and recent technological advances in the Australian performing arts scene, theatregoers these days might be excused for believing they have “seen everything”. It’s increasingly hard to be surprised or to find something truly original in local theatre. A Model Murder, however, which has its world premiere as part of the Sydney Festival this month, has originality and entertainment in abundance!
Performed in the unique venue of the Darlinghurst Courthouse, it recreates the story (with artistic licence and tongues firmly placed in cheek) of the 1954 trial of 22-year-old Sydney model Shirley Beiger, charged with killing her live-in lover, Arthur Griffith. After advising Shirley that he had a late dentist appointment, she instead found Arthur at the ritzy Chequers nightclub in the company of one of its cabaret showgirls. An argument ensued outside the club and Shirley claims that the shotgun she was holding in the backseat of her mother’s car went off accidentally, shooting Arthur in the face at point blank range. Billed “The Trial of the Century”, women lined up around the Courthouse block with their thermoses and snacks, vying for a seat to view the drama and support the girl whose man had ‘done her wrong’. “We love you Shirl” they called out from the gallery. The media went wild.
Whilst introducing appropriate gravitas to highlight issues of the period’s serious gender inequalities and legal drama, playwright Melanie Tait and her co-writer and brilliant director Sheridan Harbridge have created an unexpected farce filled with laughter, musical numbers and choreography performed on and around the courtroom bar table and witness stand. Audience participation plays a key role in the evening’s levity, with attendees given hats, moustaches, headscarves and glasses to become jurors (men only in 1954), members of the press or women observers, displaying their shock when the ‘murder weapon’ is introduced as a piece of evidence. One unsuspecting audience member is even elevated to the bench to play the judge’s role, donned in a wig and gavelling on demand, calling for “Order, order, order!” It’s entertaining enough to witness the spectacle of A Model Murder, but this participatory device ensures that everyone truly feels a part of the show.
The ensemble cast shines, several of them in multiple roles. In the courtroom of the actual trial 70 years ago, our narrator and guide, the ‘50s 2KY radio host Lyal Richardson (Amber McMahon), sets the scene and quickly makes the audience realise that recounting a murder trial may not be as serious a business as they may have expected! Her command of the storyteller role is exemplary. She/he welcomes us with the words “Come to court to see a trial, have you? There’s murder, violence, adultery, treachery - everything that Sydney holds dear.”
As the alleged murderess who acts like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, Sofia Nolan easily wins over the hearts of all in attendance (as she did in real life) with would-be-innocence, despite the cold-blooded nature of the crime for which she’s on trial. As the dour but drole Detective Blissett (Ryan Morgan) describes her from the witness stand, “Underneath, I’m not sure if she’s Mosman or Mascot”. His description of the killing of Arthur Griffith is all the more entertaining given he also plays the role of Arthur.
Other cast members in dual roles who simply radiate talent in both their personas are the super-versatile Blazey Best and Maverick Newman. As Shirley’s supportive mother Edith, Best threatens to faint throughout the trial in her attempt to win jury sympathy for her daughter, not to mention her inappropriately offering them home-baked ginger snap biscuits! Her theatrical alter ego is Arthur’s ‘other women’, showgirl Gill, whose singing is captivating, particularly when she anachronistically croons Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head and wows with a revised version of Australia Crawl’s Reckless! Newman brilliantly plays the exaggeratingly aged and piano-playing court stenographer Junee for laughs, as well as Donny, Shirley’s neighbour/friend and Chequers Club waiter. (When Donny is giving testimony from the stand, Junee is conveniently on a short ‘smoko’!)
Ably representing their respective sides in theatrical legal combat are Prosecutor W.J. Knight QC (Marco Chiappi) and Defence Attorney Phillip Roach (Anthony Taufa), complete with his “BDE” (Big Defence Energy). Appropriately donning their robes and wigs, when the musical scene requires, they cheekily peel back the robe to reveal the very NON-uniform compliant sparkling pantyhose.
Truth, as we know, is all-too-often stranger than fiction and the outcome of this trial which kept Sydney on tenterhooks is a fine example of that cliché. Sydney Festival director Olivia Ansell must be congratulated for her inspired suggestion of the Darlinghurst courthouse as the show’s venue. A Model Murder is totally immersive and given its sold-out season, one can only hope that the Sydney theatre gods will deem it possible for a return run. The brilliance of the production and the people of Sydney deserve it.
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