Through the character of Queen Margaret, and combining spoken word, storytelling and comedy, Canadian performer Gillian English, now living in Australia, focuses on the way we view women in positions of power. The audience is laughing out loud because the show is very funny but at the heart of She Wolf the message is clear: over hundreds of years nothing much has changed.

As you enter the Propeller Stage at BATS Theatre a simple book sits on a stool. In the dim light you struggle to see its title before realising it reads “Shit Shakespeare put in my mouth”. When English appears she asks the audience to yell out their favourite Shakespeare plays. We do and are instantly engaged as she proceeds to unpack the ‘bullshit’ that is her Shakespeare. “I didn’t write it – somebody else did,” she claims.

This well-crafted tour through history gives us an interesting perspective on life, a viewpoint that power doesn’t always come from the penis, and a damn good laugh. Faultless dialogue rolls off the tongue, providing us with a view of the past with its own unique twist. It is storytelling at its best.

Through Queen Margaret’s sharp narration we travel back in time, then to the present, then back again, in a witty whirlwind. We pass through Hillary Clinton’s emails, Margaret of Anjou’s life story, Shakespeare’s script errors, and even the War of the Roses, all while she’s drinking a bottle of wine and cursing British royalty. Even Jacinda gets a mention. 

The elements of this production are simple but the storytelling is not. The performance is sharp, well-rehearsed and full of chat, romping along at a fast pace. It is an excellent reimagining of what we think we know. And a unique representation of women being viewed as “irrational in positions of power”. If it sounds didactic it’s not.

She Wolf is actually an insightful, professional Fringe show highlighting aspects of society we could do without – past and present.

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