STILL POINT TURNING – Reviews

“…The play makes a welcome plea for greater understanding. It is an uplifting work that celebrates individual courage and brings one transgender experience out of the shadows. It will bowl you over.”
Joyce Morgan
Sydney Morning Herald
★ ★ ★ ★
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“Still Point Turning is a fascinating, insightful, tough, moving and surprisingly funny piece of theatre
…It is cleverly structured and beautifully written, combining direct address with dramatised dialogue and more abstract scenes, which use a choreographed physical language to heighten the situation.”
Jo Litson
Daily Telegraph
★ ★ ★ ★
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“Hard masculinity looms large over a trans story told with empathy and wit in the world premiere of Sydney Theatre Company’s production…The play finds space, too, to address other trans issues with sophistication: passing, identities beyond the binary, dysphoria…Jackman’s team shows us with Still Point Turning that the tension between McGregor’s identity and her position is as taut for her as it is for us.”
Kaya Wilson
The Guardian
★ ★ ★ ★
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“All in all, this production is remarkable. It’s entertaining and challenging, the everyday is turned on its head along with cliches and prejudices. Laughter and tears are rarely far from the surface and on opening night the audience rose as one to applaud…”
Diana Simmonds
Stage Noise
★ ★ ★ ★
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“As both director and writer Jackman has been able to edit and shape what could have been a static, didactic lecture into a riveting piece of theatre.”
Ian Dickson
Australian Book Review
★ ★ ★ ★
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“Jackman’s script is supple and empathetic, eschewing a trans trauma porn narrative for candour and nuance instead…”
“…There is a jewel of a moment in the latter half of the play, when Catherine meets, and is enchanted by, Indian cricketing great Rahul Dravid (Brown)… Catherine is profoundly moved by him – she has never been able to embrace herself quite so fully, but she’s realising that if she doesn’t, she won’t survive. It’s a moment of recognition, realisation, and deep emotion, and Jackman constructs the scene with sincere grace.”
Cassie Tongue
TimeOut
★ ★ ★ ★
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“In Priscilla Jackman’s Still Point Turning, a delicious balance is struck, in which the object of our gaze is simultaneously accommodating and commanding.”
Suzy Wrong
Suzy Goes See
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“Together, McGregor and Jackman have gifted the audience with a complex and quintessentially Australian account of transgender experience.”
Rozanna Lilley
Daily Review
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“The result is a gripping, rollercoaster ride that is intensely theatrical and raises questions about gender roles, misogyny and finding that still centre within our psychic chaos that enables us to stay true to our self. The latter especially gives it a universality.”
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Still Point Turning is a vital affirmation of trans people through the story of Catherine McGregor”
Noah Riseman
The Conversation
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“Jackman has ensured that Catherine McGregor’s story is presented with an honesty and openness without lecturing or overtly asking for sympathy but rather seeking to make an emotional connection with the audience who are taken on somewhat of a rollercoaster of emotion…”
“…STILL POINT TURNING: THE CATHERINE MCGREGOR STORY is a must see piece of theatre that not only informs but also entertains as it connects with the audience and asks for humanity for everyone.
Jade Kops
Broadway World

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“In less than two hours, Priscilla Jackman is able to encapsulate the drama, conflict and profound humanity that is at the very heart of a remarkable human being’s life. It could be so easy to sentimentalize, glamourize or embellish a life lived in so many chapters of the human condition. And yet this is so very carefully avoided…
Jackman’s direction appropriately observes the significance of her task to bring McGregor’s life story to the stage. Her approach is simple, economical and strikingly effective in its clear focus…
Still Point Turning is more than a play about Catherine McGregor. It is a lesson in humanity, a cry for compassion, a plea for understanding and a salute to difference. It is an assault on prejudice and a jolt to complacency.”
Peter Wilkins
Canberra Critics Circle