RBG: Of Many, One, Canberra Theatre Centre Presents a Sydney Theatre Company Production, Playhouse, 11-21 Apr(subsequently touring Melbourne, Brisbane, Paramatta and Perth to 23 June)

 This is a tour de force, with Heather Mitchell expertly playing Ruth Bader Ginsberg at stages throughout her life, narrating through the lens of three key encounters with American Presidents but flashing backwards and moving forward, engaging with her as a lawyer, judge, mother, grandmother and elder statesperson of American law and ethics. It's incredibly comprehensive and places many demands on Mitchell, from aging to medical issues to rhapsodic enjoyment of opera to the simple home life enjoying time with her husband and family, and Mitchell meets every one of those demands, creating a complex portrait at once engaging and occasionally slightly critical of moments of Ginsberg's hubris and human failings. Priscilla Jackman's production is elegant and ever-flowing, using David Fleicher's monumental design and Alexander Berlarge's lighting to give the show depth and strength across the 100 minutes of stage time.  Writer Suzie Miller, after her triumph of "Prima Facie" and her recent "Jailbaby" is a writer who clearly knows both humanity and the law and is able to bring knowledge of one aspect to the other in ways that are illuminating and powerful. 

There is a slight oddity here that this is an Australian actress and an Australian production team diving very deeply into a figure and circumstances that are fundamentally American - I can't imagine that there's an American production of a play about Mary Gaudron currently going on - but never the less this is powerful theatre and shows Mitchell as one of our strongest actresses, giving us time to relish in her skill and care.