★★★½
Following a sold-out 2024 season, Scenes with Girls returns, this time as part of Queensland Theatre’s 2026 DOOR 3 program in a season for Brisbane Festival.
Written by Miriam Battye and presented by Matilda Award-winning independent theatre company Salad Days Collective, Scenes With Girls explores the raw and emotional fragility of modern female friendships. Showing in the intimate Diane Cliento Studio, it is the perfect space to explore the complexities of friendship that we all know so well.
Hannah Ward plays the sex-obsessed Lou, who works on ‘collecting’ sexual experiences with men to successfully reject the modern ‘female narrative’ she so scathingly describes. Jasmine Prasser as Tosh, a celibate and wholly unhinged character, perfectly encapsulates messy and unfiltered female rage. Then there is poor Fran, played by Georgina Sawyer, who struggles to keep up with Tosh and Lou’s razor-sharp humour and obnoxiously loud personalities.
The set, designed by Laurent Milton, perfectly captures a flat share of young women. The bras and underwear strewn around the stage, and the decor that looks straight out of TK Maxx, make the set a remarkably authentic portrayal of a familiar, lived-in atmosphere. It feels instantly recognisable to those who have also lived with their besties.
The costumes, consisting of comfy trackies and mismatched t-shirts, also create a sense of authenticity that refuses to be denied.
Even the lighting by Noah Milne and sound by Tommi Civili feels entirely intentional, working together to heighten the play’s wonderfully chaotic energy. The sudden shifts in flashy lighting and bursts of music mirror the tumultuous nature of Tosh and Lou’s lives, reflecting the sense of unpredictability that encapsulates their friendship throughout.
I cannot fault the performance of the leading ladies. Each actor brings a perfectly distinctive personality to their character. I particularly loved Prasser as Tosh, who is endearingly chaotic, messy, and raw throughout.
Saying this though, I found both Tosh and Lou completely unlikeable characters. The punchy and quick-witted dialogue between them would most certainly fail the Bechdel test. Their early conversations are characterised by each woman obnoxiously talking over the other, constantly steering the conversation back towards herself. Each attempt at genuine connection is interrupted by phone notifications, texting, and Google searching.
The women cruelly critique Fran for falling victim to the female narrative that they themselves are unknowingly complicit in. Every time Fran appeared on stage, she was a welcome break from the noise of Tosh and Lou.
Battye’s Scenes With Girls is an interesting piece. It offers a messy, raw and unfiltered account of contemporary girlhood, highlighting the importance of re-centring female friendships rather than romantic ones.
However, for me, I felt that the central relationship between Tosh and Lou was ultimately fragile and shallow. Their friendship did not seem truly characteristic of the intimate female friendships that so many of us have experienced.
Scenes With Girls left me feeling all the more grateful for my own female friendships, simply because they bear so little resemblance to Tosh and Lou’s. But perhaps this is exactly what good theatre is supposed to do: leave us questioning how its themes are reflected in our own lives.
Scenes With Girls is presented by Salad Days Collective. It runs to 19 September as part of Queensland Theatre’s 2026 DOOR 3 program at Diane Cilento Studio, and as part of Brisbane Festival. Queensland Theatre, 78 Montague Road South Brisbane Qld 4101.
Tickets are available here.
Website: https://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/scenes-with-girls
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/salad.days.collective/
Images supplied.
