No matter your view of Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, there’s no denying the power of Justine Clarke’s performance in Joanna Murray-Smith’s Julia. The actor is on stage speaking for all the work’s 90-minute running time, with no interval. She is uncanny in her portrayal of a leader who divided opinion when elevated to the top job.
Maybe it was the way the dethroning was carried out, but Gillard forever had to contend with accusations of being a backstabber – despite that seeming to be a prerequisite for male politicians. But it’s precisely those sorts of double standards in both political and regular life that accomplished playwright Murray-Smith insightfully examines.
The script is a gift for a female actor and Clarke is up to the task. She’s already completed more than 200 performances in the role in the Sydney Theatre Company and Canberra Theatre Centre production and has honed her skills to perfection for this iteration directed by Sarah Goodes (and presented by Queensland Theatre).
Clarke is aided on stage by Lotte Beckett, who plays a role described as Young Woman. At times she plays the younger Julia and at other occasions assists with movements and props.
Gillard’s customary drawling accent is on show, but Clarke only pulls it out when she acts out dialogue. When she’s narrating, she speaks in her own voice, which helps steer the performance away from any notion of parody. She also does a fine Welsh accent, when playing the former PM’s father, and has an Irish accent for her mother. Clarke appears to relish mimicking Gillard detractors, such as radio shock jock Alan Jones.
Conveying Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s glued-on grin, which he maintained during Gillard’s famous misogyny speech, received plenty of laughs. Kevin Rudd doesn’t come out looking too good either, but seeing as this is from Gillard’s point of view that is hardly surprising.
Even those of us who remember the way the female Prime Minister was treated by the media and the Opposition knew it was bad at the time. Seeing some of the more shameful incidents packaged together in a short space of time reiterates how abhorrent it all was. That should be the conclusion, whether you’re Left, Right or Centre politically. The play sees the gleeful ganging-up as a bigger societal problem when it comes to the treatment of women who dare to rise to the top and who are seen as not being feminine enough (such as the comment that she was “deliberately barren”).
The climax is the now revered (and probably reviled) “sexism and misogyny speech” in parliament in 2012 after a motion was put forward by Abbott accusing her of sexism and questioning her leadership. She was not going to be lectured “by that man” on a subject he had seemed to major in at university. And so came the impassioned and lengthy speech.
Murray-Smith says she was more interested in the way the speech was delivered – the rhetoric, timing and drama of it – rather than the content. However you judge it, Clarke puts in a tour de force showing that guarantees a rousing standing ovation. The play – a mix of fact and the playwright’s creativity – hits the spot. The stage’s reflective, paneled V-shaped design by Renée Mulder, with lighting by Alexander Berlage, is also worthy of mention – minimalist but highly effective.
Julia is on at The Playhouse at QPAC until 30th August, 2025.
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- Julia (STC) – theatre review
- Julia (MTC) – theatre review
- L’Appartement: Chaos in the City of Love (QT) – theatre review
Vicki Englund is a film, TV and theatre reviewer, a credited TV screenwriter on shows including The Bureau of Magical Things and Home and Away, and a film screenwriter with several projects in development. She was the daily TV reviewer for The Courier Mail for 11 years and has reviewed films and TV for Rave Magazine, Time Off, The Courier Mail and Daily Review.
