Review: Clare Rankine at Queen Victoria Women’s Centre

Review by Greg Gorton

Clare Rankine’s solo show, “Jason Statham, I love you” is a ridiculous romp through the world of Hollywood, with hilarious character work, some clever video editing, and too many celebrity cameos to count. While guaranteed to make you laugh, and thoroughly enjoyable with your brain turned off, it's not without a surprising level of depth.

Clare Rankine offers us over sixty minutes a “day in the life” of Jasey Stacey, agent to a single star, the Teen Choice nominee, Jason Statham. She gives us a tour of her office, takes us to her favourite restaurant, and even gives us a sneak peek as she negotiates with Ridley Scott. All this while fielding text messages from Cate Blanchett, attempting to land a new client, and getting her client to pick up his phone.

Jasey Stacey is a classic comic character, and while not strictly Australian, should still enter the Australian stables next to Pixie-Ann Wheatley, Brooke Vanenberg, and Kath Day-Knight. She is boisterous, bold, and determined to get the best for her client. Rankine also introduces us to Statham’s hairdresser, and gives us a peek at a now-disappeared Russian copy of when Statham played Jason Bourne.

Rankine’s show is a multimedia affair, relying heavily on sound and audio-visual components, all of which definitely add to the night. However, they also form part of the struggles for Rankine. With the format of the MICF, offering little time for tech rehearsals, there ended up being many issues. It also appeared as though Rankine herself was still unsteady with her lines and the changing narrative structure of the production. She often fell back on the word “darling” (to an annoying extent), and had to engage in much improvisation, which she was fortunately a master of. In fact, the rough, chaotic nature of the performance did lend an air of reality to the flustered character, and accidentally offered a level of authenticity.

For all the light-hearted jests, silly comic sketches, and clever audio-visual joke-telling, this is a deeper message within the show. This is, besides a love letter to a strangely successful movie star, a story about a woman trying to make it in a world that doesn’t support women. It is, in its own way, an ode to the Allison Joneses, Sally Menkes, and Catherine Martins of the world. While these names might be recognisable to some, they are not as recognisable as Quentin Tarantino or Baz Luhrmann, men who would be nothing without them.

“Jason Statham, I love you” is a fun, brain-dead romp through showbiz, if that is what you are looking for. If you desire a little more, though, you still won’t be disappointed by the clever satire and its important core message about misogyny in entertainment.