Review of JULIA
BY DELYSE RYAN
Written by of Joanna Murray-Smith
Directed by Sarah Goodes
A Sydney Theatre Company and Canberra Theatre Centre production
Produced by Queensland Theatre
Playhouse Theatre, Brisbane
Julia Guillard’s iconic 2012 misogyny speech is at the heart of Joanna Murray-Smith’s play, Julia. The play is part of Queenland Theatre’s 2025 season at Brisbane’s Playhouse Theatre this August.
With over 25 plays to her credit, Murray-Smith is one of Australia’s most prolific contemporary playwrights. Her plays enrich feminist theatre by showing deep political insight into complex female protagonists, all presented with meticulously poetic language. Her plays show a deep interest in how women deal with power struggles and how they manage the way others see them. Her characters often face pressure from society but find ways to stay strong and true to themselves. Julia shows how women can manage public perception with strength and wit, even in the face of sexism and scrutiny.
Julia explores former Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s journey leading up to her famous speech which stands as one of the great feminist moments in Australia’s political history.
“I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not.”
These words were seared into the minds of all Australian women who heard them back in 2012. It felt like a turning point, where the patronising political elite were going to be held to account and women might have a chance of not being debased in public life. Words from the speech have been printed on T-shirts, etched into earrings, and splattered on to high tops. “Not Now. Not Ever.” The play helps to elevate Gillard to a mythical level.
Gillard was Australia’s first ever female Prime Minister but despite her capacity to form a stable government in a fractured political landscape, she faced persistent sexism from her parliamentary colleagues, like being told that she was “deliberately barren”, as well as derogatory nicknames and gendered criticism like “Ditch the Witch” and the ever-memorable joke from a Young Liberal Party dinner-menu that served “Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail—Small Breasts, Huge Thighs and a Big Red Box”. The play reminds us of these sexist moments from our recent political past and from the shocked sounds coming from the audience, some had already been forgotten.
Justine Clarke, who we know and love from Play School, but who comes to the production with impressive theatre and film credentials, delivers a powerful performance as Julia Gillard. It is a nuanced and evocative fictional recreation of the life that influenced who she was to become. Clarke resists the temptation of mimicking the former Prime Minister’s broad Australian accent throughout but occasionally dips into it for dramatic effect when quoting Gilliard directly. This provides an excellent separation in the production between Gilliard’s public persona and the private interior world of the character which is presented in Clarke’s voice.
Julia is directed by Sarah Goodes who carefully crafts a production which avoids political caricature. She leans into the multiplicity of layers that can be found in a human being, showcasing the depiction of Gillard’s public and private self. The play blends poetic language with historical record, highlighting the sexist treatment Gillard endured including media scrutiny, public hostility, and political disrespect, all because she was a woman in a position of power.
The play could easily fall into the heroes and villains trope with the likes of Tony Abbott and Alan Jones twirling their moustaches with Gillard rising above the misogyny to heroically claim her place in history. Instead, Murray-Smith asks us to reflect on the media and our politicians and consider the way that they shape public perceptions and allocate power.
In its attempt to foreground the maltreatment of Gillard, the play misses the opportunity to address some of the complexities of her legacy. While it is ostensibly a one-hander, there is the character of the Young Woman who is a shadowy figure representing the women of Australia. Mostly silent, the role shows us the hope that women in Australia have. The Young Woman, played with great seriousness by Lotte Beckett, could have helped to critique some of the controversial decisions that Gillard made; indeed the character of Julia is aware that her cuts to single parent payments and enforcement of offshore refugee processing had incredibly harsh impacts on women, but the Young Woman’s voice remains silent about these issues.
The production takes the audience on a journey from Gillard’s childhood home in Wales through her teenage years in Australia, and finally to her life as a political figure, foregrounding the constant sexism that was hurled at her. The minimal costuming helped the audience see the transition from an ‘everywoman’ dressed in a flannelette shirt, to a more polished public figure in a blouse, before Clarke donned the iconic blue blazer that Gillard wore the day of her impromptu speech. The transition is only complete when the Young Woman hands Clarke the unmistakable red wig just before the moment that everyone in the theatre was waiting for.
The speech itself is delivered verbatim as the climax of the play, and Clarke’s command of the rhythm in its delivery is meticulous.
The designer, Renée Mulder, literally reflected the audience back at itself with a wall of mirrors surrounding the stage. As the house lights dimmed, these mirrors became both symbolic of the personality that Julia was reflecting to the world, and a screen for images to be projected to take us back to the time and place. We never get to see the ‘real’ Julia, only a representation of the back of her head with Clarke standing back-to-back with her representing Gillard’s legacy towering overall.
Ultimately, Julia is a celebration of Gillard’s defiance in the face of misogyny, offering powerful moments which help to mythologise the impact of the 27th Prime Minister of Australia. The play reminds the men and women of Australia about the positive legacy of the speech, and it concluded with a well-deserved standing ovation.
Works Cited:
Commonwealth Parliament. Hon Tony Abbott AC. 5 June 2020, www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=EZ5.
“Heffernan’s ‘deliberately Barren’ the Most Sexist Remark of 2007.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 Nov. 2007, www.smh.com.au/national/heffernans-deliberately-barren-the-most-sexist-remark-of-2007-20071113-gdrl0m.html.
Jabour, Bridie. “Julia Gillard’s ‘small Breasts’ Served up on Liberal Party Dinner Menu.” The Guardian, 13 Mar. 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/12/gillard-menu-sexist-liberal-dinner.
Julia Gillard. www.juliagillard.com.au.
“JULIA | Queensland Theatre.” Queensland Theatre, https://queenslandtheatre.com.au/plays/julia?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22827022760&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5JXFBhCrARIsAL1ckPvqOWBhJcZxeNtwWpkOdOAMycNiFQL4xpa4M6yO2LRtuHJ7ODov2GMaAq8sEALw_wcB.
Guardian News. “Julia Gillard Misogyny Speech Voted Most Unforgettable Australian TV Moment: Watch in Full.” YouTube, 7 Feb. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNuPcf8L00.
Massola, James. “Julia Gillard on the Moment That Should Have Killed Tony Abbott’s Career.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 June 2015, www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/julia-gillard-on-the-moment-that-should-have-killed-tony-abbotts-career-20150622-ghug63.html.
Murray-Smith, Joanna. Julia. Currency Press, 2023.
SBS News. “Gillard’s Father Died of Shame: Alan Jones.” SBS News, 27 Feb. 2015, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/gillards-father-died-of-shame-alan-jones/4q7mnvtub