By Hannah Story
The critically acclaimed one-woman play starring Heather Mitchell, RBG: Of Many, One, is set to tour Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane next year after an encore season at Sydney Theatre Company.
The play about the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, written by Suzie Miller (Prima Facie), debuted at STC in 2022 to rave reviews, including five stars from The Sydney Morning Herald.
Heather Mitchell as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG in 2022.Credit: Prudence Upton
Chief theatre critic John Shand praised Mitchell for her “poise, beauty, humour, insight and intelligence” in the role, which also earned her a Sydney Theatre Award for best performer in a leading role in a mainstream production.
“I’m really excited to get to do it again,” Mitchell says. “When we closed, I really grieved her because I think she’s such a remarkable woman.”
She also found it difficult to completely leave Ginsburg behind her. During auditions, she found herself unconsciously adopting the celebrated judge’s manner of speaking.
“It took a couple of months actually,” Mitchell says, as she slips into Ginsburg’s New York accent. “Her tongue is behind the front teeth … I found it hard to get back to my own voice.”
Mitchell has been a mainstay of Australian stage and screen for more than 40 years.Credit: Steven Siewert
The premiere season of RBG sold out and is credited, alongside The Tempest and The Picture of Dorian Gray, with a big uptick in STC’s box office earnings from $14.6 million in 2021 to $26 million in 2022. STC artistic director Kip Williams says: “It is an extraordinary piece of work made by the most extraordinary Australian artists and that work needs to be seen by as many people as possible.”
But the choice to take the play on the road is not a commercial one. Instead, Williams says it’s about extending the life of a new Australian work: “You want to entrench it in the canon of Australian playwriting.”
Mitchell thinks the play’s themes, about striving for justice and equality, are especially poignant as we approach this year’s referendum on the Voice to Parliament.
“In my view, this is a fundamental right [for First Nations peoples],” she says. “[Ginsburg] was speaking for the rights of people, and particularly minority groups, and for absolute equality, for those who don’t have a voice. I think that’s really relevant right now.”
While it is the story of an American judge, Williams stresses that the play was created by Australians and strongly resonated with local audiences. “RBG’s impact transcends America, and she is a global icon,” he says.
“We’re living in a moment where particular social gains in which RBG was such a key player are being pushed back upon, and I think audiences feel concerned about that.”
At the start of her career, in the 1960s, Ginsburg struggled to get a job because of her gender. She later devoted much of her life and career to the fight for gender equality, including as an advocate for stronger protections for reproductive rights.
The Australian arts industry has itself faced challenges in terms of gender discrimination. Mitchell, a mainstay of Australian stage and screen for more than 40 years, says she has seen her industry change to be a safer space for women.
The real Ruth Bader Ginsburg, pictured in 2020.Credit: AP
“The discrimination [Ginsburg faced] was enormous. I haven’t experienced that sort of discrimination,” she says. “But the things that I have definitely experienced are sexual boundaries being crossed.
“The idea of being able to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ clearly and consciously was not encouraged, and now it is. I think certainly our industry is much healthier [now], but we still have a long way to go. Because we’re still getting used to how to do that.”
RBG: Of Many, One is at Opera House Drama Theatre from February 9 to March 23; Riverside Theatres from May 30 to June 2; The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre from April 11 to 21; Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne from April 25 to May 12; and Playhouse, QPAC from May 16 to 26.
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