Cate Fucking Blanchett – REVIEW

The Fringe Festival occasionally throws up real gems that deserve a longer run than the two or three days they are given for this festival.

One such gem is Karolina Ristevski’s Cate Fucking Blanchett, a witty take on life, art, identity, families and fame in the European tradition of the theatre of the absurd.

The plot is seemingly simple: there are three sisters, the youngest of whom, Nina (Angela Johnston), a writer, has been asked by her 50-year-old sister Margot (Melissa Jones) to donate her eggs so Margot can have a baby.

The middle sister Grace (Lana Morgan) already has children but doesn’t get on with her older sister and is jealous of the relationship between her siblings.

Ristevski is clearly referencing Chekhov’s play The Three Sisters, who are all unhappy with their present life and long for a future that is unattainable. And of course, Chekhov’s gun makes an appearance early in the piece.

Nina is a writer who represents Ristevski the playwright, and this is where the “meta” aspect of the play comes to the fore.

Nina is writing a play about her sisters, much to their horror, and boasts that Cate Blanchett will be taking on her role.

In the “meta” developments of the play, the sisters all discuss who will play their characters, and, not unsurprisingly, they each end up playing Cate Blanchett playing themselves. This gives them an opportunity to send up the famous actress in several hilarious scenes.

Be warned! There is violence in the play – a severed foot, an injured sheep that is sewn up, and a rather gruesome scene as Nina’s eggs are extracted by the IVF doctor (John Michael Narres) who describes the operation as a real estate transaction.

Two other manifestations of “the writer” (Kate Bookallil and Josie Waller) are called up on stage from the audience to say their piece, and finally, Ristevski herself walks onto centre stage, but remains silent, her work speaking for her.

The action takes place on a simple set at the Flightpath Theatre in Marrickville’s Addison Road Community Centre and attracted a full and appreciative audience on both nights of its “run”.

And in keeping with the spirit of the play – and its playfulness ­– Ristevski teased us with the possibility that Blanchett might herself appear before the show when in fact it was just to get us all there 30 minutes earlier to accommodate the next production at 8pm.

If the interview with Cate fucking Blanchett at the end seems a step too far, it doesn’t matter; the audience loved it.

Ristevski also directed and produced the show, her direction skilfully evoking the comedic elements of her script and the comic skills of her excellent cast.

Be sure to catch the show next time round!