★★★½

“It has that kind of unhinged chaotic quality that has become an excellent currency for the funnies”

‘Weather Girl’, from the same producer (Francesca Moody) of ‘Baby Reindeer’ and ‘Fleabag’ fame, is a one-woman cyclone of unhinged peppiness and untethered feminine rage. And Julia McDermott, who plays Stacey Gross the ‘Weather Girl’, is increasingly engulfed by it, much like California itself, whose fires she reports on.

Directed by Tyne Rafaeli, ‘Weather Girl’ is essentially a 70-minute monologue charting Stacey’s psychotic breakdown. And yet, it’s hard not to identify with her derangement. As Stacey, looking like Elle Woods’ protégé, sips prosecco from her Stanley cup, numbing the drones of the male morons who surround her, her actions seem rather justified. The wilful ignorance of those around her abounds; no one respects her or pays her increasingly desperate statements seriously; the world is burning, and people are stupid: does her insanity not appear a hyper-normal response?

The weather Stacey reports on portends apocalypse, and yet, in the last few months in the real world, has become but more prescient. Her part of California, Fresno, is suffering frequent natural disaster-level fire, and drought is on the rampage. The feeling of divine retribution is explicit here.

Nothing about this production is erroneous or feels like a misstep. The staging (Isabella Byrd) is sparse, arranged with cameras and ring lights; it possesses a meta-quality. It’s versatile, complemented greatly by the lighting (and smoke machine) which manages to conjure pathetic fallacy at all turns– it is a show about weather, remember.

The lighting – with the aid of that smoke machine – obscures and darkens the stage as the show progresses, and a magical realism seeps in. I won’t divulge anything more, except that it involves a reunion with Stacey’s mother, who is homeless and usually high, but seems to possess a kind of witchy power that augments her vagabond otherness.

But despite its bleak messaging, ‘Weather Girl’ screams in dark humour. It has that kind of unhinged chaotic quality that has become an excellent currency for the funnies, especially when depicted by women.

One dramaturgical question did arise for me: having reviewed several one-person shows, I still question why? McDermott is wonderful, with constant command of the room, and working harmoniously with Brian Watkin’s nuanced script. But Aeschylus did introduce the second actor for a reason: I feel that rarely would a show’s quality be lessened by introducing a second actor. That said, whilst I don’t think ‘Weather Girl’ justified the one-person show, it certainly excelled within the framework. The Valley Girl accent does also feel a little akin to having pencils thrown at your face for an hour. But you soon get used to that.

‘Weather Girl’ is the kind of art that reaffirms that theatre is and can be polemical without being explicitly didactic or dogmatic. And the world is burning, literally, but just as much metaphorically. We should probably be reminded of that more often, because feeling untethered from reality is fast becoming a refuge of sanity.

SHOOTING HEDDA GABLER at the Rose Theatre Kingston

★★★★

“this is an extremely sharp interpretation. Funny and chilling, entertaining and thought provoking”

Henrik Ibsen’s nineteenth century drama, “Hedda Gabler” has often been hailed as a masterpiece and described as a female variation of ‘Hamlet’. And like Shakespeare, Ibsen’s works have also been subject to modern interpretations, twists and re-writes. It is an inevitable exercise with a work that is well over a century old; the success of which largely depends on how much of the original essence is retained whilst striking a chord with contemporary audiences. Nina Segal’s “Shooting Hedda Gabler” scores on both counts with an ingenious unfolding of the story on a twenty-first century film set in Norway.

After being offered the title role in a movie of ‘Hedda Gabler’, an American actress grabs the opportunity as an escape route from Hollywood and a scandal involving a violent run-in with the paparazzi. Although quite a success in America, she feels trapped by her celebrity status and perceived lack of artistic credibility. She is privileged but powerless. Arriving in Norway, however, she is merely powerless. The play opens with a quite remarkable scene during which she is introduced to her fellow cast members and director who not only have little time for her status but openly mock it. The tone is set with a mix of observation, satire and biting humour.

Hedda is in a world she wasn’t prepared for. Reality and fiction become blurred. Interestingly we never learn the names of the actors portrayed in this play – only their character names in the movie shoot – a device which further enhances the indistinction. Antonia Thomas, as Hedda Gabler, pitches the right amount of incredulity with a fierce resilience to keep her head above water and, indeed gives as good as she gets. She is immediately up against Henrik, the demanding and Machiavellian director, who demands that the aim is ‘not to seem to be, but to be’. He will go to any lengths to get the shot. Christian Rubeck is a commanding presence as Henrik who runs his studio like an amoral professor conducting a psycho-scientific experiment.

“The fragile humour gives way to tension as the atmosphere becomes increasingly claustrophobic”

It is a very clever and radical interpretation, but we never lose sight of the parallels with Ibsen’s original, aided by the exemplary performances. Joshua James, as the actor playing Hedda’s husband Jørgen, brilliantly mixes the humble resignation of Jørgen’s character with the aloof arrogance of the actor reluctantly playing a role which he feels is beneath him. Matilda Bailes, as Thea, throws in moments of comedy when it transpires she is also the studio’s therapist and intimacy director. Anna Andresen, as Berta the unappreciated AD, tries to hold it all together with an officiousness that often breaks under Henrik’s dictatorial hand. The fragile humour gives way to tension as the atmosphere becomes increasingly claustrophobic, the suspense further mounting when Henrik calculatedly recruits another movie star and real-life ex-lover of Hedda to play her on-screen ex-lover Ejlert (a charismatic Avi Nash who manages to make the character more tragic than perhaps Ibsen even intended).

If it sounds convoluted on the page, it does actually make sense on the stage and it is at times gripping. The undercurrents are captured, too, by Hansjörg Schmidt’s atmospheric lighting which clearly flickers between the reality, and the unreality when the cameras roll. A prior knowledge of Ibsen’s original is, if not absolutely necessary, a very useful requirement. But Segal has created something unique with this adaptation which could act as a stand-alone commentary on certain unfavourable aspects of today’s film industry. I’m not sure how much we are supposed to analyse the text but there are definite messages about the role of feminism in Hollywood and the more contentious topics of male domination, misogyny, manipulation and abuse. Ibsen predates the golden era of Hollywood in which starlets would customarily be under the control of tyrannical moguls. Segal’s version comes high on the wave that has thankfully brought that to account, and she balances these issues well without them pulling focus from what is a very acute piece of writing.

“Shooting Hedda Gabler” is occasionally surreal, the climax of Act Two perhaps a touch too bizarre, with the question of the current AI controversy and the effects of CGI on moviemaking unnecessarily thrown into the mix. It distances us too much from the heart of the story. But otherwise, this is an extremely sharp interpretation. Funny and chilling, entertaining and thought provoking.

WEATHER GIRL

Soho Theatre

★★★½

“It has that kind of unhinged chaotic quality that has become an excellent currency for the funnies”

WEATHER GIRL

Soho Theatre

Reviewed on 12th March 2025

by Violet Howson

Photography by Pamela Raith

Previously reviewed at this venue:

WEATHER GIRL

WEATHER GIRL

WEATHER GIRL

SHOOTING HEDDA GABLER at the Rose Theatre Kingston

★★★★

“this is an extremely sharp interpretation. Funny and chilling, entertaining and thought provoking”

“The fragile humour gives way to tension as the atmosphere becomes increasingly claustrophobic”

SHOOTING HEDDA GABLER at the Rose Theatre Kingston

Reviewed on 4th October 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Andy Paradise

Top rated shows in September

Shooting Hedda Gabler

Shooting Hedda Gabler