AN OX STAND ON MY TONGUE Comes to Belvoir in September

Though inspired by characters from Greek mythology An ox stand on my tongue by Jane Montgomery Griffiths is emphatically not an unquestioning attempt to put the ancient world on stage.

“What if the infamous femme fatale and vilified husband murderer had actually once believed in an idealised domestic dream?” says Montgomery Griffiths. “I wanted to write a play about two women who try - who really do try - to be well behaved, to be the perfect housewife, but who just happen to end up becoming the world’s most notorious adulterer and child abusing mariticide.”

“An ox stand on my tongue will be bold, sexy and dark. We’re exploring the art of the tease in the rehearsal room. Focusing on heightened language and the juxtaposition of the mythical and the mundane. We want to excite you but you might leave wanting another bite,” says director Abbie-Lee Lewis.   

Lewis and Montgomery Griffiths met in 2021 when they were both cast in Bell Shakespeare’s national tour, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While toiling in a 10 week lockdown the pair bonded over the Spice Girls and Megan Thee Stallion, laying the groundwork for the partnership that has led to Lewis directing the world premiere production of Montgomery Griffiths’ 2011 RE Ross Award winning script.   

After reading Griffiths’ work, Lewis was struck by the visceral imagery but wanted to go further. “I wanted to explore how I have received western literature throughout my life.” Lewis, a Kalkadoon woman, loved reading growing up. “I would often imagine myself in the stories. I thought, what does it look like to recenter a dominant or western narrative around women of colour?  What better narrative to explore this through than a reinterpretation of Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy.” 

After their recent collaboration on Red Line Productions’ smash hit A Streetcar Named Desire, cast members Jessica Bentley (Julia, Sydney Theatre Company) and Angela Nica Sullen (Mother and Son, ABC) are primed to rewrite the story book in a decisively contemporary telling of these epic women.

“These women are trapped not by mythology, but by the inescapability of their own and others’ behaviours and impulses,” says writer Montgomery Griffiths. “Audiences will understand this without having to know the intricacies of the Ancient Greek context from which these sisters come.” 

An ox stand on my tongue plays in September and October downstairs at Belvoir.

What: An ox stand on my tongue by Jane Montgomery Griffiths

When: September 20 - October 8, 2023, | 6:45pm Tuesday - Wednesday, 7:45pm Thursday – Saturday, 5.15pm Sunday

Where: 25a, Downstairs Belvoir, 25 Belvoir Street Surry Hills 2010

How much: $20 - $25

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