8 Women - Playlovers

Reviewed by Jordan D'Arcy

8 Women is a whodunnit murder mystery about eight women (funnily enough) who are stuck in a mansion with a potential murderer amongst themselves when “Monsieur”, the family patriarch, is found dead in his bedroom. This script is an Australian adaptation of the original French play written in the late 1950s by Robert Thomas, Huit Femmes.

Director Paul Treasure has pulled together a good cast and crew. It is clear the cast was enjoying themselves during the show, and likewise, the audience was discussing “whodunnit” amongst themselves during intermission.

There were parts of this performance where the ensemble cast was really strong and other parts where individual actors shone. Particular standouts were Jess Lally as Madame Chanel and Kate O’Sullivan as Suzon. I have a feeling that the performance I saw was perhaps subject to some opening night nerves, as it felt occasionally like each actor was trying to outdo each other on stage – which is easy to do with characters like these.

The set (designed by Wayne Herring) was simple but very effective. The impression of an elegant French mansion was visible to the audience as they walked in, with the curtain open before the show.

This production doesn’t seem to know where or when it is set. Unfortunately, a lot of this was due to the translation of the script. There were a number of places where the original French was left in – which on its own would have been a cute reference to the source material. However, there were other moments, such as a noir-style moment where a French accent (excellently done by Emilia Lawonski) was used, references to being in London, Australian accents, and French names where the pronunciation was sometimes French and sometimes English, which was confusing.

The lighting design by Virginia Moore Price was perhaps the most elaborate aspect of the production. Lots of scary noises punctuated by Virginia’s design literally had me jump out of my seat at one point. I also enjoyed the short but sweet "French Café" style music at the beginning of Act One and somewhere in the middle of Act Two.

Albeit maybe some opening night nerves, this production was fun, and with another week of shows left it is a good, lighthearted way to spend your night (despite the murders).

Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company. Members of this review site (Kate O'Sullivan and Paul Treasure) were involved in this production, but have not been involved in the writing of this review.