Genius

Cairns: 26 September – 4 October

About the play

Genius is a new Dark Comedy, written by Sandra Thibodeaux, directed by Nicky Fearn, and co-produced by Thibodeaux, JUTE Theatre Company and Simona Cosentini. Inspired by the life and work of painter Artemisia Gentileschi, Genius takes a knife to the persistent issue of harassment and abuse in the arts industry and wider culture, as highlighted by #MeToo. Longlisted for the Griffin Award and shortlisted for the NT Literary Awards, Genius will be staged in 2025, with seasons in Darwin, and Cairns, alongside a North Queensland regional tour. 

While the themes are weighty, Genius is a Dark Comedy – it is a riotous and humorous jaunt through contemporary and historical art worlds, investigating how women navigate this minefield. The play depicts both greats of the past and stars of the future with an unrestrained irreverence. We see Artemisia’s rage, inspiration and creativity. We imagine extreme and violent events propelling the painter towards a series of fictional beheadings. Into this world comes narrator and rising-star street artist Miss Ella, also confronted with challenges that both limit and inspire her. As active narrator, Miss Ella controls the action, jumping between time zones and interacting with characters and the audience.
 

Significant Themes

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653c) was a prolific painter, renowned for depicting the violent acts of strong, mostly Biblical women, righting wrongs – or just having a gloriously Django moment of blood-soaked revenge. Painting at a time when women artists were steered towards Still Life, Artemisia upended gender expectations, becoming, in recent times, a popular feminist icon.

In Genius, we utilise the life and works of Artemisia to fill in what is an extraordinary absence of women in Western art. We also engage this narrative to ask how do women in a patriarchal world find their voice. We look at the challenges women artists experienced 400+ years ago, sadly finding a close alignment to the challenges of today. 

While the themes are weighty, Genius is a Dark Comedy – it is a riotous and humorous jaunt through contemporary and historical art worlds that asks how women can navigate this minefield. The Griffin Award judge who longlisted Genius said that they were ‘very excited’ by this ‘whimsical’ and ‘empathetic’ play. After its extensive, 4-year development in both Australia and Italy, we are also excited – to be finally bringing Genius to life on stage.

Immersive & Site-Specific Staging

Director Nicky Fearn has envisaged the work being staged in a working art gallery/studio, with the audience seated in and around the performance areas, making Genius an immediate and immersive experience (please see designs). At turns, the audience will experience a modern gallery, an artist’s studio in Rome, a 17th-century courtroom, and the graffitied streets of Melbourne, with an uncomfortably close view of the bloody consequences of a copyright breach.

The set is minimal, and features innovative projection – Artemisia’s paintings come alive as actors and images interact; actors emerge from projected paintings and disappear back into them. This exciting, multi-arts work blends gallery aesthetics with evocative projection, giving audiences an experience both visceral and technological, as we move between oil-soaked studios and the streets of contemporary Melbourne/Naarm.

This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance

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