Director’s Note: Liesel Badorrek, BETTE & JOAN
In Hollywood lore, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis loom large as towering figures of the Golden Years. Yet the so-called ‘feud’ is the first thing that comes up when their names are mentioned together. By all accounts they were far from chummy when making ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’, but as working mothers supporting their families, and as actors carving out careers and hustling for roles, Bette and Joan had as many similarities as differences.
‘Baby Jane’ is widely regarded as the first film in the genre known as Hagsploitation. This style of horror/thriller centres on characters who are older, once glamorous women, now living lives of seclusion, tormenting others and pining for their lost youth and beauty. It is a genre which plays directly into society’s discomfort with aging women.
Far from being cowed by this, Bette and Joan leaned in and created intense and legendary performances. With BETTE & JOAN, Anton Burge has given us what is essentially a Hagsploitation play, and we have leaned in by interrogating and celebrating Davis and Crawford’s meticulous and deliberate construction of their images and characters.
The interviews they gave and the memoirs they authored create the Bette and Joan they want us to know. We view these women through the lens of the movie camera, and this is largely also how they view themselves.
There’s no question they were very different women with very different stories, but the art of Cinema completely shaped both our vision of them, and their vision of themselves.
Liesel Badorrek
Playing 20 Mar – 25 Apr, Anton Burge’s deliciously wicked two-hander rips back the curtain on the set where egos clashed, tempers flared, and a legendary feud hit boiling point. Don’t miss it!