State Theatre Company South Australia presents a Sydney Theatre Company production. Dunstan Playhouse. 15 Apr 2026

 

The publicity is correct.

RBG is a masterwork performed by a consummate pro and presented with impeccable production values.

Heather Mitchell seals her reputation as one of the finest actresses in the land.

 

In the role of a celebrated/notorious USA Supreme Court judge she delivers a tour de force.

And, she has been doing it for years.

 

This Sydney Theatre Company work has been around for a very long time and has just made its way to Adelaide where, unsurprisingly with the city’s discerning audiences, it is drawing packed houses and standing ovations.

 

Ruth Bader Ginsberg merits our attention not only because of her achievements as the second women to make it to the US Supreme Court but also because, amid her landmark decisions on gender equality, she insisted on standing by the letter of the law, which defined a judge’s position on that elite bench as “for life”.  

 

She refused to retire while she decreed her brain was still sharp. That was despite President Barack Obama’s clear message that it would be advisable for her to have retired while a Democrat president presided with the authority to appoint a Judge of Democrat sensibilities.

 

We must remember that America’s jurisprudence is, indeed, a partly political phenomenon. Her refusal to step down at that pivotal time resulted in a Trump appointee - and the Trump Republican movement having the numbers to attain supreme power over the justice system. Thus did she cement the MAGA dominance which represented the antithesis of everything she stood for - resulting in a warfaring, spite-fuelled administration which now is largely perceived as undermining the economic stability of the world. In other words, she knowingly put legal authority into the hands of a politician she openly despised. Her hubris helped to throw world peace under the bus.

 

If Suzie Miller has done a good job with the script, traversing RBG’s phases of age, experience and political heft, Heather Mitchell has pinned every aspect and every moment not only with a monumentally effective vocal delivery but with a moveable feast of physical age-shifting, so artful it would have the great Alec Guinness tipping his cap.

 

And Miller has added dimensions perchance new to many of us, levelling RBG’s adamant feminism with deep and appreciative love towards Marty, her husband and solid career support. Without him, there would be no RBG story to tell.

 

Priscilla Jackman’s perceptive direction underscores the classiness of this show which, albeit describing law cases and political stances, never palls for a moment. Rat-a-tat attention-grabbing. While also, the lighting, the deft stage magic, the presence of women helpers (acknowledged stage crew), the surtitles of timelines and case names draw the knot on the ribbon of excellence which surrounds this work.

Brava all round. Brava, Brava, Brava.

 

Samela Harris

 

When: 15 Apr to 2 May

Where: Dunstan Playhouse

Bookings: statetheatrecomany.com.au