Bombshells directed by Lisa Lanzi Review by That Guy In The Foyer, John Doherty ★★★ Presented by starheART Theatre The. Feb 14 – March 5. Founded in 2015 by Laura Colella, starheART Theatre’s mission is to offer creatives of all levels and interests a vehicle to create opportunities for themselves in performing arts space. Joanne Murray-Smiths 2004 Bombshells, six monologues exploring the constraints, stresses and burdens that beset modern women –“women on the edge”-provides a strong framework within for the three actors, Ashlea Sander, Laura Colella, and Lucy Dyson. The text, while conveying the disproportionate demands placed on women to fulfil any number of a myriad of roles, also offers inspiration in that the women it portrays are resilient, defiant survivors who are taking their own agency back. In her early thirties, Meryl Louise Davenport (Sander), jolted from sleep by a screaming baby at 6:30 am, ploughs through her complex daily routine and the multilayered roles of being a wife and mother of three with a tight smile, self-deprecating humour and determination. Sanders does a fine job of maintaining a pace reflecting Meryl’s energy and life’s demands. Occasionally, the pace overrode the comedy. Tiggy Entwhistle’s (Colella) address to the Cactus Admirers and Succulents veers into a humorous account, loaded with pathos, of her husband leaving her for a younger woman. Her husband Harry is “a fat, balding, lactose intolerant traffic infringement officer” and Tiggy sees her cacti as a metaphor for her own renewal. The only problem is that Colella exudes a youthful quality such that despite fine interpretation it is difficult to see a woman in her middle years Lucy Dyson’s portrayal of Mary O’Donnell, “the Liza Minelli of St Brigette’s School”- a teenager with great ambitions to blitz the Talent Contest is nuanced in the portrayal of a younger woman’s perception the world of entertainment and its sexualised stereotypes, and we appreciate just how “catty” that world can be! Young bride to be, Theresa McTerry, conveys her vision of nuptial bliss as pure and shiny as her silk bridal underwear- until she has an alarming epiphany at the altar as to the obligations and expectations implicit to marriage. The thought of life with Ted becomes unthinkable, her dismay heightened by the thought she,”…had four dried apricots walking up the aisle! Barely through the vows, Theresa contemplates divorce! Colella has crafted an excellent performance from this monologue. Winsome Webster, a sixty -year-old widow of ten years, is experiencing the crushing weight of a societal view of widowhood. Surrounded by fellow widows in a social group she observes, “There’s noting like pity to make one feel dull;” she is descending into a grey existence where her only role is to be pitied and to bestow kindness and assistance on those in need. Until she takes on the role of “Reader” to a profoundly vision impaired young man who, after a number of her visits, insists she read him an erotic novel. Of course, one thing leads to another and Winsome describes a reawakening of a flame she thought long extinguished. This was a difficult monologue and a young actor, Dyson, managed the performance very capably. Wrung out Southern belle chanteuse, Zoe Struthers (Sander) takes the stage to impress upon us the hard life she has endured, one of injustice and let downs at the hands of men. Defiantly, Zoe sings of how things will be in relationships from now on- she will no longer define herself by either relationships or men. Sander handles this character, one much older than she, with a sense of dignity and optimism for the future, and negotiated her way, unfazed, through a significant sound tech issue professionally. Director Lisa Lanzi has clearly brought her experience to bear in assisting these actors to craft strong performances. I do think it difficult when actors play characters much older then themselves, no matter how competent they are. The venue is adequate, but I would have liked to see the play somewhere like The Bakehouse- oh, wait, that’s gone! The play has resonance with audiences who have experienced the things the six characters go through and, I hope, provides insight to younger generations of theatre goers