Spike Heels

Nicki Alchin
22nd May 2021

If you enjoy your theatrical rom-coms with a bit of thought provoking bite then you should definitely check out Spike Heels playing now in Newtown as part of 2021's Sydney Fringe Festival. There's no better opportunity to gather up your crew for a playful romp through a number of serious social issues that never seem to go away.

Back in the 1990s, American playwright Theresa Rebeck dived in and wrote Spike Heels as a microscopic look at how class divides, misogyny, the battle of the sexes, remaining true to oneself, sexual harassment, the fragility of male friendships, the measurement of success, and the pursuit of love and sexual fulfilment, actually affect the lives and relationships of Americans on a daily basis.

Basically, the story revolves around how a work-based case of sexual harassment assists Georgie (Jessica Saras), a force to be reckoned with and working class vamp, to work out she has been for the past four months manipulated by two establishment type, white American males who happen to be best friends at odds with each other on many levels, and one of whom she is in love with. Saras oozes sexual charisma, as she gives a ballsy rendition of Georgie, who thinks all she wants is her man and to keep her respectable job, but who in the end finds out she also wants to be true to herself.

Joshua Horwitz does a fine job of projecting the essence of misogynistic, power and monetary success driven, sleazy Bostonian lawyer, Edward, while Antony Press gives an equally believable performance as Andrew, the mild mannered liberal author and university lecturer who has been intent on 'improving' Georgie in a Pygmalion kind of way, while being engaged to Lydia (Kate Hardy), a ruling class type woman who is worlds apart from Georgie.

Set over four acts with a 15 minute intermission half way through, there's a lot of male/female, male/male and female/female relationship drama to take in amongst the hot topics. Be also ready for some accurate witty one-liners that nail perfectly the idea they are trying to capture.

Go see it as a romantic comedy with bite, or a play that highlights the fact that in many ways we haven't come that far, or bundle it all together for a night of intellectual entertainment. Either way, seeing Spiked Heels is a great way to invest your time in support of Sydney culture.

Tickets available at Sydney Fringe