RBG: Of Many, One

By Suzie Miller

Sydney Theatre Company/presented by Black Swan State Theatre Company

Heath Ledger Theatre, 21 March 2026

Every now and then a production breaks the mould.

We’d already been lucky enough to experience as much once in WA this year with Perth Festival’s Lacrima, and now the return of the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of RBG: Of Many, One continues to up the ante but for very different reasons.

Melbourne playwright Suzie Miller must be getting used to having incredible actors in her lead roles. In London, where she’s experienced her greatest success, Jodie Comer led breakthrough hit Prima Facie in 2022 and Rosamund Pike played a Crown Court judge in last year’s Inter Alia.

Legendary Australian actor Heather Mitchell may not be quite so famous as Pike and Comer , but she should be. Her one-woman show playing US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is astonishing. The breadth of her performance, in which she deftly alters her voice to represent Ginsburg’s life from a young and idealistic teenager all the way to an otherworldly scene on her deathbed, also includes wicked impersonations of the men who impacted her life, including doting husband Marty, and President Bill Clinton, who first nominated her for ascent to the Supreme Court in 1993.

Perhaps most memorable is her portrayal of Donald Trump, physically voicing his grotesque speech and mannerisms in some of the most hilariously repulsive scenes in Miller’s play. RBG has been portrayed in plenty of media before now, from awarded documentaries to Hollywood features, but she’s never been this funny. From cringe-worthy sexual politics to flexing for Duran Duran’s Notorious, this is a heroine for our times: sassy, smart and courageous.

That’s not to say that Of Many, One is a comedy. In fact, it’s amongst the most emotionally profound productions I have seen staged in Perth. Is it simply the injustice of equality, or is it the peerless performance and production values hitting us so hard in the feels?

From powerful opera scenes depicting Puccini or Tristan and Isolde, to RBG’s unwavering belief that politics and the judiciary should never cross paths, to a prescient and haunting concern that Roe v. Wade might one day be overturned, only the staunchest of conservatives in the audience would remain unmoved.

Because Of Many, One is also a love story. Bader’s incredible relationship and marriage to ‘Marty’ Ginsberg is the heart of the story, and his encouragement and support of her groundbreaking work in equality for women is testament to how much a great team can achieve irrespective of who has the starring role. Both endure horrendous battles with cancer, but they ardently push on to play their part in literally changing the world. Their love and persistence knows no bounds.

Not that Miller’s play sinks into sentiment. Bader reserves her chemo for Fridays because there’s work to be done and it’s the only way we’re assured the therapy’s side-effects don’t stop her ability to be at work on a Monday.

But yes, I tear up on more than one occasion, and I’m not the only one still wiping my eyes when the lights come up on Mitchell’s 95-minute bravura solo performance and she receives a rousing series of standing ovations.

Currently being reworked for New York, this is amongst the finest written and incredibly acted productions in Australian theatre. Don’t miss it, while it’s still ours.

RBG: Of Many, One runs at the Heath Ledger Theatre until April 4.