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RBG: Of Many, One

A hagiographic depiction of an icon’s life
Sydney Theatre Company
by
ABR Arts 07 November 2022

RBG: Of Many, One

A hagiographic depiction of an icon’s life
Sydney Theatre Company
by
ABR Arts 07 November 2022
Heather Mitchell as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG: Of Many, One (Prudence Upton)
Heather Mitchell as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG: Of Many, One (Prudence Upton)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020), the late and great associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, was notoriously difficult to decipher. She was shy, enigmatic, and unused to clamour. Her career was distinguished by her sharp arguments and belief that due process – not reactivity – is the route to a fairer society. How, then, do you represent the interiority of a person who made herself inscrutable; understand why she made the choices she did? According to RBG: Of Many, One, the new play by Suzie Miller, author of the acclaimed Prima Facie, it is hidden emotion – a deep well of quieted outrage – that propelled Ginsburg’s life work.

Comment (1)

  • "It is an issue of dramatic epistemology: because we can never truly know what the character/icon is thinking or feeling, we fill any lacunae with our own desires." Um... yes.
    "Surely there is a complex, difficult, unsaintly, Australian feminist icon out there deserving of her own dramatic treatment?" No. And anyway, that misses the point of the playwright's intent.
    Posted by Diana Simmonds
    08 November 2022

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