1000 Ships: A Guide to Ancient Womanhood, Gillian English 
Rubix Bar, 4 February 2023 

“We weren’t born into the world hating our bodies,” 2023 Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt said in her acceptance speech. “This is something the world has taught us.” 

The sadness of this truth is achingly apparent in comic performer Gillian English’s new solo show 1000 Ships: A Guide to Ancient Womanhood. 

In it, English is trying to come to terms with her post-partum body in the face of unattainable beauty standards. In figuring it out, she turns to Helen of Troy who, according to Greek mythology, was the most beautiful woman in the world (and “the face that launched a thousand ships”). 

It’s presented in an intimate room at the back of Rubix Bar, with English sipping a pint that rests on a bar stool throughout the performance. 1000 Ships is casual and unrefined, like many a fun Fringe show. English is the comical acquaintance your friend brings along to the pub, who will make you laugh with her candid tales. 

An hour-long history lesson ensues, as English embodies the mythical beauty, delivering an account of Helen’s life that’s punctuated by English’s own struggles as a woman in her late 30s who is moving away from youth and into middle age. 

I found myself only vaguely following the narrative, as English weaves the threads of Helen’s life with a hurried delivery and lots of detail, but the whole tapestry is apparent: beauty is an object for men to enjoy. Although the message is clear, the lack of refinement makes for less impact than might have been achieved with more workshopping. 

There’s a healthy dose of patriarchy bashing (always welcome) but it’s very simplistic. English exposes the unattainable and contradictory nature of the beauty standards she’s subject to as a Canadian-born, Australian-dwelling, cis white woman, but does little beyond this. 

My favourite part of the show was when she told us about a relatively recent translation of Homer’s The Odyssey into English by a woman, the first of its kind. That brief discussion of the intersections of language and interpretation with gender and power was the most insightful. 

But 1000 Ships is less about the audience and more about English herself. A form of catharsis, an attempt to embrace a new body, one she doesn’t recognise. There’s also a hint at the struggle to create art and be a mother, the importance of family and finding your village. 

These moments where English breaks free from Helen are poignant, relatable and human. Yet she repeatedly bundles them back in, pushing them under the surface. She’s not quite ready to let go of her old self and that’s okay, but it feels underdone. 

Though 1000 Ships is underdeveloped, conceptually and in terms of the performance, that doesn’t stop it from being an enjoyable frolic, well suited to an up-for-anything Saturday night audience. 

1000 Ships: A Guide to Ancient Womanhood continues at Rubix Bar until 11 February 2023

Pictured top: Gillian English uses Helen of Troy to explore womanhood in ‘1000 Ships’. Photo supplied