RBG: Of Many One – REVIEW
Image: Heather Mitchell in STC's RBG Of Many, One. Image: Prudence Upton
Suzie Miller’s new one-act, one-actor biographical play is based on the life of the late US Supreme Court judge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG as she is affectionately known.
Ginsburg managed to gain notoriety early in her career, first for being a female lawyer in a field unapologetically dominated by men, then through her landmark court cases which predominantly focused on equal rights for women. Later in life, after having spent many years on the US Supreme Court continuing to champion for women and underdogs and mostly dissenting on decisions made, Ginsburg became a pop culture icon.
Under the unofficial brand, “The Notorious RBG” (a pun on a popular rap song), Ginsburg was being celebrated on t-shirts, mugs, bags, in memes, and with replicas of the famous styled judicial collars she loved to wear.
Ginsburg has been the subject of documentaries, bio-pics, books, podcasts, and hashtags. It’s not unusual that she should be the subject of a play, too, the question is, how best to present her?
RBG: Of Many One has Ginsburg herself retelling the high and low points of her life in jumbled chronology. Miller integrates known facts and actual quotes with poetic licence to create a fictionalised but close-to-the-truth memoir. Her unfortunate choice to chop up the time-line and randomly switch back and forth does make it hard to become invested, however, and to feel the emotional build towards climax.
What does work magnificently is Heather Mitchell as Ginsburg. Mitchell is utterly incandescent in the role. She captures the mannerisms, voice and intonations, facial expressions and the whole air of dignity that uniquely comprise Ginsburg.
For 90 minutes, without intermission, Mitchell holds the audience in her thrall. It is Mitchell who creates time and space through her physical transformation and palpable presence.
She shrinks her body to emulate the diminutive Ginsburg. Alone on the stage she often looks small, but never insignificant.
The set is minimal – an armchair and phone table or yoga mat and weights, a handful of props, simple costume changes. Alexander Berlage’s lighting helps create mood and effect scene changes but what really – and literally – underscores the emotion is the use of operatic music.
Heart-wrenching, exquisitely beautiful arias seem to emanate from within Ginsburg, telling of her grief, awe, and even intellect. Ginsburg was very fond of opera, so its inclusion in this way is insightful.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was undeniably a giant figure who deserves to be immortalised. This play explains why, and Heather Mitchell shows how.
