RBG: of many, one
Following her 2024 AACTA Best Supporting Actress in a Drama award win for Love Me, Heather Mitchell leads an inspiring one woman show, RBG: Of Many, One.
Words Penny Keogh @eaves_content
Images Prudence Upton @prudenceupton
For a 40+ year-long acting career as acclaimed and diverse as Heather Mitchell’s, there would be no other Australian actress more suited to the role of pioneering Supreme Court Judge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in the upcoming performance of RBG: Of Many, One, presented by Merrigong Theatre Company.
In fact, the role was written for Heather by her long-time friend and award-winning playwright and author, Suzie Miller. A testament to the flawless collaboration is the rave reviews now received from sold out crowds of the performance at the Sydney Opera House.
Heather’s performance of RBG: Of Many, One recounts the story of a woman from modest beginnings charting a new course against the odds to inspire generations to follow.
“This really is a multigenerational piece,” said Heather. “Many women have brought their sons and daughters. Particularly being International Women’s Day recently, seeing younger people in the theatre has just been so uplifting.
To Heather the role offers a gratifying opportunity to reflect on her own life and shine a timely spotlight on themes of fighting for equality and a balanced democracy.
“Ruth fought tirelessly for women’s rights and equality across the board. She used the 14th Amendment to impress upon the judicial system the great importance of people being treated equally.”
“I think that there's some very broad sweeping ideas that she introduces, such as how the constitution works, or how democracy works, how we vote our leaders in, and what our leaders do for us,” said Heather.
“What really impressed me and does every performance is the relationship she had with her mother and what her mother taught her. And that was to not invest in outbursts. I think we live in a world where we are very outraged by many things that go on in our world at the moment, from our domestic world and in our political world, and our environment.
“What I think impressed upon her is that, yes, you feel outrage, you feel anger, you want to take action, but instead take your time, sit back, do your research, think clearly and wisely about things before you act on them.
“Listening to those you disagree with is very important,” continued Heather. “I think we are very quick to take sides, we're very quick to judge, we're very quick to see people as groups at the moment.
“I think a lot of that is due to social media, due to the immediacy of being able to have an opinion, the immediacy of sharing your ideas, which is wonderful. But that also can lead to very quick and emotional decisions about things, some of which are there for life.
So, I do feel that Ruth has a lot to offer in terms of the way we approach conflict, conflict resolution, and approaching conflict and difficulties with a more measured, wise, and thoughtful and considered approach. And I think we can all do that.”
“There's a lot of humour in the show,” said Heather. “Ruth loved people with humour.
“Her husband made her laugh a lot. There’s her relationship with Elena Kagan, who was the very right-wing Republican on the bench, who she had great friendship with. She was a great lover of opera, and they went to opera together.
“Personally, there were a number of things that resonated for me in her personal life,” said Heather, finding parallels to the life of Bader Ginsberg.
“She and I tried never to miss work, even through our cancer treatments,” continued Heather. “My mother was [also] Jewish. My mother died on my last exam of school, and so did her mother.
“And I thought, oh, this is the time of my life in my 60s and really the only time in my life I've been able to look back at my life and reflect on my own upbringing.
“It's only in retrospect that you see the effects that your life has gradually had on you and the choices you've made and the people who've influenced you.
“For so many reasons, this is a really beautiful thing for me to be doing,” said Heather. “I'm very grateful for this opportunity, both personally and professionally.”
Bringing the latest production of RBG: Of Many, One, to Wollongong, is something Heather is excited to do.
“I'm finding this production, unlike when we did it a couple of years ago, there's much more. I'm finding the relationship with the audience much stronger, because I have that wonderful luxury of being able to actually talk to the audience. So that's really nice.”
“I grew up in Camden,” continued Heather. “Often on Saturdays we'd drive to Wollongong and we'd jump in the ocean and we'd have fish and chips. I have very fond memories of Wollongong.
“This is back in the 70s. I loved that drive, with its wonderful winding road. Since then I’ve had a few visits and also performed down there a few times,” says Heather. “Yes, it's so beautiful.”
RBG: Of Many, One
3-6 April 2024
IMB Theatre
Illawarra Performing Arts Centre