CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION by Annie Baker is set entirely in a drama class at a community centre in Vermont, USA. The play opened Off-Broadway in 2009 and received the Obie Award for Best New American Play. Now 25 years later, directed in Sydney by Dean Byrant, the play is still as relevant and entertaining as ever.
Marty, played by Rebecca Gibney, is the leader of an amateur acting class. Marty persuades her four students to lie on the floor in a circle. The classroom has a back wall that is entirely a mirror. And, as might be predicted, the students transform themselves in various ways through the five-week program. Hence the play’s title, Circle Mirror Transformation.
The youngest student is a 16 year old Ethopian-American girl who aspires to be an actor, the reason she is taking the course. She also thinks she might like to be a veterinarian. The character is played by an Ethiopian /Australian. Her transformation from a quiet uncertain teen to a smiling and active participant is perhaps the most moving in the play. Jessie Lawrence plays Theresa, a beautiful young woman who moved from New York to Vermont after a boyfriend break-up. Nicholas Brown plays Schultz, a recently divorced man who falls madly in love with the beautiful young woman. Then there is the older man James played by the very handsome Cameron Daddo. He’s a bit of a mystery man who reveals less about himself than the others – but the audience knows he’s going to open up eventually.
Marty’s goal is to have her four students get in touch with their inner selves by exercises and games that spark the imagination. For example, they tell each other about themselves, then later a student stands to repeat to the group what that person has said about their past life. They role–play, play games and lie on on the floor, all to discover more about themselves.
This might sound all too yoga-like or transcendental for some theatregoers but it’s a magical unravelling of the characters’ personalities. There is humour, compassion and self-discovery. This small town’s little community centre becomes a mosaic of the daily troubles and pleasures that most people. face. The characters’ lives become intertwined as they come to understand one another, and themselves better.
And what happens to the these ‘every people’? Ah, there is a short scene set ten years later which again delights and surprises the audience.
Congratulations to composer and sound designers Clemence Williams and Daniel Herten for the quirky music soundscapes that play during the probably twenty or so quick blackouts in the action. These breaks are not to indicate scenes, rather slices of chronological time.
Designer Jeremy Allen’s no-clutter set is perfect. So simple, just a bright coloured two-seater moveable couch, a fitness ball that doubles as a seat, and the back wall of mirrors. The mirrors allow the audience to see the faces of actors when their backs are turned to them.
Approx. duration 1 hr 45 mins (no interval).
Content Infrequent strong language, mature themes including references to child abuse, racial themes and complete theatrical blackout.
Season 18 Jul – 7 Sep 2025
Night with the Artists
Mon 28 Jul, post-show
Captioned Performances
Tue 26 Aug, 6.30pm
Sat 30 Aug, 1.30pm
