The greatest woman in the world

‘The Greatest Woman in the World’ by John Bishop, is the story of Maria Montessori and is presented by Agelink Theatre. It is being performed at the Subiaco Arts Theatre each evening at 7.30 until the 17^th November.

The play opens in a house in Holland, in 1950, where 80-year old Maria Montessori (Jenny McNae) is looking through old scrap books and recalling her rise to fame, whilst her son Mario (Thomas Papathanassiou) is trying to dig deeply into his past – dragging out all the old skeletons from the cupboard.
There is a flashback 55-60 years to the young Maria’s (Rebecca Davis) home where her father (Vic Hawkins) a tobacco dealer, and her mother (Irene Jarzabek) in true Italian tradition, are dictating to their daughter what career she should follow. Maria, with some support from her sister Nina, (Jo Morris) has other ideas. Maria gets into that male preserve, university, where we experience her lectures as well as the influence and support of her professor (Igor Sas).
Maria meets Giuseppe (Benj D’Addario), they become partners and her teaching methods are developed.

The writer John Bishop put this play on at WAIT (then Curtin University) 20 years ago and  filed it away. Thankfully it has been resurrected and re-written. The extraordinary tale manages to fully inform without lecturing. The dialogue is superb and there are plenty of mood changes, from pure hilarity, to repulsion and sadness.

This is an awesome cast, but special praise must go to Jenny McNae and Rebecca Davis who portrayed every emotion of this stubborn, demanding woman, with the confidence and power.

The sumptuous sets (Susi Morphett, who provided the symbolic and rough hewn set of ‘The Good Thief’, now shows the breadth of her talents) have carefully chosen antiques, which combined with Aaron Stirk’s soft amber lighting gave a truly authentic atmosphere. The costumes by Neil Hunsley are beautifully tailored and very true to the era. All capped with soft classical music. A fabulous atmosphere.

Even if you aren’t interested in the topic, this professional sparkling play will give you a lift and send you home feeling that you have seen a masterpiece. Try and see it.