Secret Girl Stuff

Natasha Ciesielski
17th Feb 2024

Flight Path Theatre is running Kaleidoscope Festival until the 24 February. The festival will provide audiences with a double bill each night, consisting of a short 35-minute teaser performance before the main show, Secret Girl Stuff.

Kaleidoscope is a celebration of artists and the way that art can manifest into so many different mediums. Each of the festival teasers (Clare Heuston, DEFNE & Billy, and Alchemists in the Garden) has a strong focus on female, queer or artists from diverse cultural backgrounds.

“Our production company Cats in the Cupboard values diversity and telling unique stories that are personal to each artist. Kaleidoscope’s ethos is also reflected in Secret Girl Stuff with differing perspectives aiding and constructing a more vivid story of empowerment and liberation amongst artists,” says Mikaela Corrigan, Producer/Writer/Director.

DEFNE & Billy opened the show on the night we reviewed. Talented 23-year-old DEFNE identifies as a queer Turkish/Australian multidisciplinary artist.

“We (co-Producer Nicholas Pavan) wanted someone who represented what Secret Girl Stuff stands for and DEFNE fit perfectly as we realised her poetry and spoken word would add another layer of personal depth to Kaleidoscope. DEFNE writes poetry and songs about her experience of being a young woman in Australia with such an intimate vulnerability that allows audiences to truly appreciate the show that follows her. She’s a great performer and we’re really lucky to have her and her partner pianist Billy Shaw on board,”says Corrigan.

A self-reclaimed drama queen, DEFNE’s words share a unique revolutionary intimacy. Heartfelt, raw and honest her original poetry provides time bubbles to her younger self. Be warned though; she deals with heavy issues including: mental health, suicide, consent, rape, queerness and relationships.

Following the teaser, Secret Girl Stuff is a series of confessional vignettes, all focused on the female experience. The show returns to Sydney after a successful Sydney Fringe season. Written and Directed by Corrigan, the play reflects on what it means to be female, covering topics from puberty to first sexual encounters, crushes to pregnancy.

Corrigan’s direction to the actresses is sharp, as she gives a voice to the complicated journey of girlhood to womanhood. Working within the simple staging of a typical teenage bedroom, the play delves into heavy topics: nudes, toxic relationships, post natal depression and Endometriosis, amongst other issues. However there are also touching thoughtful vignettes, especially the scenes exploring mother/daughter dynamics. Actress Madison Hough perfectly captures the essence of a complicated tug of love mother/daughter relationship with the words “I hope you have a daughter just like you”. These words repeated again and again, throughout the time span of the two, are shouted in anger and whispered in hope, taking its meaning from adoration to volatility, and finally the return to gratitude and love. It’s a beautiful scene that evokes longing and a few audience tears.

This is a play which girls and women will relate to, covering all the moments that females go through but perhaps a few too many. With so much content, performed in short sharp bites, it felt like this play was trying to cover too much. Was it necessary to explore every single issue that a female might face?

“The reason we cover so many topics is because the female experience is incredibly diverse and vast that I wanted to have something in the show that no matter who you are, you have something in Secret Girl Stuff you can relate to,” explains Corrigan. “It’s really important to feel seen and to know you are being heard and that’s what our show does, it gives a voice to the female experience. It’s a love letter to women.”

Written by a woman, performed by five women and one man, made for everyone.

Four stars.

Secret Girl Stuff is playing now at Marrickville’s Flight Path Theatre till the 24 February. 

For tickets visit: flightpaththeatre.org/whats-on/secret-girl-stuff/