Tiddas (Belvoir) ★★★

Written by Anita Heiss. Sydney Festival. Belvoir St Theatre. 12-28 Jan, 2024.

When Anita Heiss’ Tiddas is funny, it’s damn funny, and when it’s didactic, it’s like having wikipedia recited to you. The two tones struggle to co-exist in Heiss’ stage adaptation of her 2014 novel about five friends whose book club becomes a meeting place for ideas, angst and more over the years of their friendship.

The VIXENs (an acronym for Veronica, Izzy, Xanthe, Ellen and Nadine) are a book club of five friends, all with a connection to Wiradyuri country. They are a tight unit of female friendship, lovingly teasing and supporting each other. At least, they usually are. But tensions have started to creep into the group. Nadine is an author herself, who is starting to wonder why her books are never discussed in the book club. Meanwhile one of the group has unexpectedly fallen pregnant threatening her ambition to be “Australia’s Oprah”, and another is struggling to conceive. Is a love of books (and wine) enough to keep them all together?

Perry Mooney is excellent as Ellen, the youngest of the group, unapologetic about her sexual freedoms and place as a young Aboriginal woman. Roxanne McDonald is wonderfully refreshing playing both mum and grandmother with a cheeky spring to her step. Sean Dow creates a series of memorable moments playing every male character in the story. But other performances felt one-note and threatened to tip into melodrama. Unfortunately Louise Brehmer missed opening night due to illness (Co-director Nadine McDonald-Dowd bravely stepped in as Nadine on short notice and acquitted herself admirably).

Zoe Rouse’s set and costumes are stunning (I’m a sucker for a wall of bookshelves), giving each woman a colour palette of their own. Similarly lights by Jason Glenwright and sounds by Wil Hughes, produce depth and variety when it’s most needed. 

The collision of comedy and issues in Tiddas can be rather hit and miss. When it blends well, it elevates with gags that have a bite (like a sequence where the ladies break down the various terms ‘indigenous’, ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘BIPOC’), but when the exposition gets more technical it strains the ears and loses the rhythm of the play. Good intentions don’t smooth over awkward dialogue. 

But as I said at the beginning, when Tiddas makes you laugh – you really laugh. There is an authenticity to the observations that feels fresh and audacious. It offers glimpses into the world of contemporary Aboriginal women and is happy to laugh at and with their foibles. It’s in its admirable desire to educate the audience that it gets bogged down.