There’s sometimes a certain snobbery about actors like Rebecca Gibney.
A Gold Logie Award-winner best known for her roles in television shows such as The Flying Doctors, Halifax f.p. and Packed to the Rafters, she isn’t famous for her work in the theatre.
Gibney’s role in Circle Mirror Transformation marks her first time treading the boards in two decades. It’s also her first ever performance at the Sydney Theatre Company (STC).
And she’s good. Very good. Let there be more dissolution of theatrical snobbery; more Rebecca Gibneys on the Sydney stage.
Gibney plays Marty: a middle-aged woman who runs an amateur acting class at a community hall in a small town.
The class has four students: local tradie, Shultz (Nicholas Brown); high school student, Lauren (Ahunim Abebe); Marty’s husband, James (Cameron Daddo); and failed actor, Theresa (Jessie Lawrence).
As Marty puts her students through their paces – with various exercises to help them loosen up and connect with their inner selves – real-life drama begins to seep into the classes.
Circle Mirror Transformation: playing it safe
The situation is mined for comedy, for drama, for insights into the human condition.
It’s amusing at times. The breaking down of inhibitions, a mainstay of introductory acting classes, gets a fair few laughs.
At one point, actors play out emotional scenes using only the words ‘goulash’ and ‘Ak-Mak’ (a brand of whole wheat cracker) in various cadences.
There is some meaty content about relationships.
A mildly interesting exploration of perception and honesty occurs when the actors enact each other’s lives.
But overall, there’s nothing particularly revelatory or compelling here.
This is the kind of safe bet one expects from STC in 2025. A play that did well overseas, that has some cachet, which won’t offend anyone and is competently staged with good actors.
But it’s not the kind of theatrical experience that will really excite, generate profound insights or stay with the viewer for long afterwards.
Circle Mirror Transformation: cringe
One annoying aspect was the wholly predictable decision to have the actors put on American accents. (Which they did very well, by the way.)
Yes, Circle Mirror Transformation was written by US playwright Annie Baker.
But Australia has acting schools, drama classes, actors, wannabe actors. Everything in Circle Mirror Transformation could easily have occurred here. So why the need for everyone on stage to affect an American drawl?
It’s just another example of the cultural cringe this country grapples with in all areas of public life.
Circle Mirror Transformation: best aspects
In the end, the best aspects of the play were the actors themselves.
All were successful in creating their roles, with the standouts being Gibney and, especially, Ahunim Abebe as Lauren.
Abebe’s depiction of a withdrawn teenager whose personality unfolds as the play progresses was the truest, most authentic and most interesting aspect of this Dean Bryant-directed production.
Other successful aspects included the sound design by Clemence Williams, in which a multi-dimensional soundscape of actors’ breath exercises enveloped the audience during blackouts between scenes.
The set by Jeremy Allen was also good, particularly the mirrored background of the hall, which allowed us to see the actors being put through their paces from all angles.
But overall, this was a safe bet of a play. Somewhat interesting but predictable. Amusing in parts but slightly tedious. Reasonably well done but unremarkable.
Theatregoers could do worse than spend their money on this. They could easily do better, too.
Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker plays Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf 1 Theatre until 7 September 2025. Visit the website for cast, crew and ticket details.
