Written by Brian Watkins

Review by Jack Cuinn

Summerhall – Cairns Lecture Theatre: Tickets

Everything is as it should be. She was born to be a weather girl, and she is, so everything is fine, right?

Shining as bright as her perfect pearly whites, Julia McDermott gives a strong central performance as Stacey, the bright Californian weather girl whose sole job is to greet viewers first thing in the morning, providing them with a hopeful start to the day. What proceeds is a whiplash of a tightly written and performed monologue, navigating 4am evil, romantic relationships, and rekindling contact with her homeless mother.

Absorbing and affecting, Weather Girl races through Stacey’s turbulent life as a weather reporter, even maintaining her forced smile while witnessing a house on fire which claims the lives of a family inside. Far from providing a quick, caffeinated hit of morning dopamine, Weather Girl examines the growing threat of climate crisis, which breaks even Stacey’s hopeful sense of optimism, leading to a mass evacuation of Californian residents from their combusting community.

Blending naturalism with satire and magic realism, Brian Watkins’ script shows the bravery of an individual in the face of a global threat and that the reunion of broken familial bonds can heal the traumas of the future. Much like the magical, water-divining ending of the play, perhaps what we need to save us all from impending doom is a miracle.

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