Acclaimed play Girls & Boys starring Justine Clarke comes to Theatre Royal

An acclaimed one-woman show starring Justine Clarke will give Hobart audiences a powerful and unsettling story of a woman’s life behind closed doors.

Actor Justine Clarke in Hobart for her performance in play Girls & Boys at the Theatre Royal. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

A raw, emotionally charged and powerful story which confronts a woman’s life behind closed doors is coming to Hobart.

Dennis Kelly’s acclaimed solo production Girls & Boys starring Justine Clarke will give audiences a glimpse into the lives many Australian women can relate too.

“It’s a very common story of how this woman met her future husband, and they built a life together. They got married and had children and their careers are taking off,” Clarke said.

“She’s in her mid 20s and similar to my story, I didn’t know what I was doing, or why I was doing it really.

“It wasn’t until I had children that I went okay, I’m really going to commit to this and do this because this is what I know and what I can do for my family. It gave me a greater sense of purpose.”

Justine Clarke in Girls & Boys, by State Theatre Company SA. Picture: Sam Roberts

The one-woman show breaks the fourth wall and explores life and relationship, a ticking time bomb and a deadly turn.

“You can’t say too much about it, but it’s so well structured, that you do feel like it’s a bit of a roller coaster ride,” Clarke said.

“It’s very much told in the moment of each part of the story. You feel like you’re in that part of her life.

Much like Fleabag, the production breaks the fourth wall and invites the audience into the story.

“Direct address is such a wonderful tool for it, but particularly for theatre, because it implicates the audience and they get to know this character and feel that they know her and in the process,” she said.

Justine Clarke in Girls & Boys, by State Theatre Company SA. Picture: Sam Roberts

“Because of its direct address (to the audience) and the address while sometimes it feels like it’s to everybody, for the most part, it feels like she’s talking to someone she knows very well.”

Girls & Boys is making its Tasmanian debut on Thursday and running until Saturday for the final leg of its season, after sold-out shows in Adelaide and Sydney.

Clarke believes the Theatre Royal will make the play more vulnerable because of its intimate setting.

“A one person show is a really great way to reveal the kind of powerful tenets of theatre making which is connection, imagination and exercising empathy,” she said.

“Anyone who’s been in any relationship would relate to the power play that goes on between people in relationships that you try to avoid but sometimes you can notice yourself maybe not doing everything with the best of intentions and we’re all human.”