SOLD OUT SHOW
Presented by Bloomsday in Melbourne
45downstairs, Saturday 20^th June 2026

A bright young scholar Pandora (Seon Williams) finds something amazing while doing research and can’t wait to tell her mum Christina (Christina Costigan) who is happy for her but also afraid she will fall foul of the male establishment as often happens.

As it turns out the conceit is that a stash of unknown letters is found in the estate of Groucho Marx that Pandora has been asked to go through. These are between Groucho Marx and James Joyce and the story jumps between the original letters and the present day of 1987.

Groucho Marx and James Joyce are played how you expect them to be played. I know Groucho did actually write to a lot of people I had a book of his letters. People who got a letter from him used to laminate it and carry it on their person. The letters do not actually exist in real life I got out of the writer of the play afterwards but they are used in the story to push it forward and a way that Pandora uses them for her own ends just as she is being passed over for credit and being used herself.

Seon Williams was my favourite in this, she seems like she would be fun in real life too. I will look out for her. As she said in an interview about the play, there are two different “planes” in this so the actors do not really interact with each other except those that are on the same “plane”.

It was something different than what I would usually go to and I go to a lot. I can’t remember the last actual play I went to has not been for a while!

Not sure when this is going to be on again but worthwhile if it is. Thanks to Alison for inviting me.

Show details:

80 minutes with no interval

warnings: coarse language, misogyny, referenced sexual violence & assault and sexual references

Photo by Jody Jane Stitt

CAST in order of appearance

PANDORA FRIEDAN Seon Williams

JAMES JOYCE Tref Gare

JILL SNOW Christina Costigan

GROUCHO MARX Scott Middleton

MURRAY DALTON Shannon Woollard

MARY FRIEDAN Christina Costigan

CREATIVES

DIRECTOR Renee Palmer

SCRIPT Steve Carey

STAGE MANAGER Alison Ferrier

SET DESIGNER Ishan Vivekanantham

COSTUME DESIGNER Zach Dixon

LIGHTING Lindon Blakey

SOUND DESIGNER AND COMPOSER Inder Singh

PRODUCER Steve Carey

PRODUCTION MANAGER AND ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Ella Thompson

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Frances Devlin-Glass

MARKETING MANAGER Eleanor Howlett, Sassy Red PR