Fractures in the sisterhood: Anna McMahon, Perry Mooney, Jade Lomas-Ronan, Lara Croydon and Nadine McDonald-Dowd. Photo: Stephen Wilson Barker
At its heart, Tiddas is a play about friendship. Five forty-something women who have known each other from their schooldays in Mudgee and now live in Brisbane, meet once a month for their Book Club, which – like most book clubs – is a forum for much more than literature.
Three of characters are Indigenous Australians: there’s Ellen (Perry Mooney), sisters Izzy (Lara Croydon) and Xanthe (Jade Lomas-Ronan), whose brother is married to white Nadine (Louise Brehmer/Nadine McDonald-Dowd), and Veronica (Anna McMahon) also white. But they are all ‘tiddas’ – a word used across various communities –that means sisters, tied by blood or friendship. The initials of these tiddas spell the acronym Vixens.
Like most long-term friendships, there are not many subjects off-limits – either personal or political. Some issues are universal, such as whether or not to have a child: Izzy, whose ambition is to be the next Oprah Winfrey, is unexpectedly pregnant and worried about her career prospects; Xanthe, married to a white guy, is desperate to conceive and not having much success; Ellen, pressed for an opinion on what her tiddas should do, annoys both of them by remaining neutral – she doesn’t want children. She isn’t buying into relationships, either; she is a serial dater – and has some of the best one-liners (eg, ‘reno-dating’ – a date who is also a tradie, useful when she needs work down on her new home.)
The chief organiser of the Book Club is divorcée Veronica, a mother of two, who is reeling from the disintegration of a 20-year marriage. And Nadine, the sister-in-law, is a very successful novelist, whose books are never chosen for discussion at this particular Book Club.
What is up for discussion between the Vixens are such issues as: sovereignty; identity; ownership of land; how to overcome the prejudices of white and black (or should that be blak?) Australia. This tricky area of ‘labelling’ – First Nations, Indigenous, Aboriginal, Blak – seems to have no easy consensus, even when discussed by the Vixens in this play.
There are laughs to be had, but here is also tendency to some speechifying, which takes us away from the personal emotions on display elsewhere in Tiddas.
Having seen the play, I wish I had read Wiradjuri writer Anita Heiss’s book first. Condensing 368pp into 90 minutes of performance is no mean feat (the adaptation comes from Heiss herself). Characters who I assume are more complex in the novel may be stripped down in a play of this length, and although the five women portrayed are different and have different aspirations, surely their back stories in the novel offer more insight and therefore their motives and actions more understandable.
For example, we know the five women have been friends since their schooldays. It might be supposed that the Vixens would discuss at least one of Denise’s books. Why don’t they? Because, as one of the Vixens asserts, all new Australian fiction must reference or include First Nations peoples? Or is there another reason? I would have expected this sisterhood to be a little more inclusive of one of their own and perhaps that is explained more fully in the novel. Or perhaps they just don’t like her? As the play progresses, it becomes clear Nadine has alcohol issues. Again, not sure what these might stem from.
Ellen, we know, has abandonment issues. There’s a story to be mined there. The death of Ellen’s aunty, the woman who brought her up, provides one of the strongest scenes, when the tiddas return to Mudgee for her funeral. Lomas-Ronan and Roxanne McDonald (Mum/Grandma and also co-director) are particularly strong here, as emotions run high and everyone has a cathartic moment or two.
And the versatile Sean Dow works very hard as Richard, Asher, Spencer, Craig and Rory – playing husband (to Nadine and to Xanthe), as well as a brother and a couple of boyfriends. He manages five different personalities, with their different characteristics, with apparent ease.
At the performance I saw, Louise Brehmer was unable to play Nadine (blame Covid) and co-director Nadine Macdonald-Dowd, stepped up, script in hand, to take the role and did a fine job.
Zoe Rouse’s set is impressive, the huge bookcase stretching the length of the wall would not be amiss in a mansion or a library, and backgrounds the various homes of the tiddas. Although very apt for a Book Club meeting, it also exudes an affluence at odds with more modest apartments, such as some of those I imagine to belong to the characters in the play. But, as I say, I haven’t read the book. But I will.
At Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre until 28 January 2024 as part of Sydney Festival’s 2024 Blak Out program
Tickets: https://belvoir.com.au/productions/tiddas/ or (02) 9699 3444
