Megan Wilding first burst on to Australian stages wearing leopard print and toting a shotgun as a staunch and sweary lady-in-waiting in Aphra Behn’s Restoration comedy The Rover. In the decade since, the Gamilaroi actor has carved a swathe through the theatre industry as a serial scene-stealer, plucking plum mainstage roles from Shakespeare, Chekhov, Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde. Television inevitably followed, including a riotous turn as a faux French aristocrat in ABC’s Gold Diggers, a reptile-handler-cum-amateur sleuth in Stan’s Sunny Nights – and most recently, a cost-conscious rainbow serpent in Tony Armstrong’s ABC special Always Was Tonight.
Fans of Wilding’s comedy work might be surprised by her latest role, as the star but also the writer of revenge thriller Game. Set. Match., which opens at Melbourne’s Malthouse theatre this week. Wilding has described the play as “a romcom, until it isn’t”. It unfolds as a kind of verbal rally between a middle-aged white man and a young Aboriginal woman over the course of one night, as they move from wariness through playfulness to full-blown flirtation. There’s a growing sense of unease, however, as you start to question what game is being played – and who the players really are.
