Sydney review- Fly Girl: a fabulous plot and script

By Paul Kiely

Fly Girl

By Genevieve Hegney and Catherine Moore

Directed by Janine Watson

An Ensemble Theatre Production

Ensemble Theatre

78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli

Season: 17 October – 22 November 2025

Bookings: https://ensemble.com.au

Duration: 2 hours 25 minutes including interval

When a girls got to fly, a girls got to fly! And don’t try to stop her…

Fly Girl is the heroic story of Australia’s first female commercial airline pilot, Deborah Lawry. It is a David vs Goliath tale, where the underdog refuses to be squashed by overwhelmingly powerful men and societal conformity.

Quite often, stories of inspiration come from the sporting arena. Here is a unique Australian story from aviation, blending humour, heart and history with a sharp social commentary.

Beginning in 1969, Deborah Lawrie’s (Cleo Meink) first interest in flight occurs at the age of twelve, when her father began taking lessons. Over the course of the next decade, Deborah studies aviation and practices relentlessly for her pilots licence. Throughout this time, her father is no longer on the scene. Her mother, supportive but sceptical, reminds her, “It’s not natural for a girl to be so obsessed.”

With dedication and persistence, Deborah excels in all theory subjects and eventually lands a job instructing. Of course, Deborah has her hopes set on grander goals. She wants to be a commercial pilot flying the big 727’s for Ansett Airlines.

Deborah has the qualifications, she has the skill, she even has a natural affinity to ‘feel’ how an aircraft responds to pilot controls. The only thing she hasn’t got is the right gender. And herein lies the problem…

By 1977 Deborah has applied and been rejected six times to Ansett’s pilot training intake. Students that she has instructed and who are of lesser ability are now working with Ansett.

Deborah has tried to play the game by existing rules against the chauvinist Sir Reginald Ansett, whose old-fashioned views on ‘safety’, conveniently exclude women from the cockpit.

With gloves off and with public opinion now on her side, Deborah utilizes the new Equal Employment Opportunity legislation to formally challenge Ansett’s discrimination against her based on gender.

The final win is inevitable but the flight to get there is full of stalls, spins, steep turns and go-arounds.

Fly Girl has a fabulous plot and script. With a serious and controversial subject matter, it is a light-hearted and funny journey of girl-power.

The playwright partnership of Genevieve Hegney and Catherine Moore have embossed their comedic talent throughout this play. They have successfully made punchy social commentary on unfair work practices, male chauvinism and the legal system without offending anybody. Except Sir Reginald Ansett. Even Rupert Murdoch is treated as a hero figure (for once).

Director Janine Watson has enjoyed putting her creative stamp on Fly Girl. Everything about the production is perfect; the lighting, the sound, the 1970’s ‘mod-squad’ costume styling. The non-stick fake moustaches also get the thumbs up!

Fly Girl embraces the audience like few plays can do, as evidenced by the spontaneous standing ovation.

Staging in the Ensemble Theatre is always commendable but on this occasion they have seized the ‘aviation theme’ so well. Using an overhead airport departure information board was a clever and whimsical tool to show the play’s timeline and events. And the simple method used to portray Deborah’s first solo flight was particularly heart-warming.

The mood of a stage production is often set by the cast. They were a treat to witness. Congratulations to everyone. With the exception of Cleo Meink, all played multiple characters from macho ‘top gun’ type pilots to the trio of giggling air hostesses. Great performances from Cleo Meink, Genevieve Hegney, Catherine Moore, Alex Kirwan and Emma Palmer. It must have been a ton of laughs during rehearsals.

Fly Girl is not just an empowerment story for the hurdles women have had to jump to seek fairness and equality in society. The creators have done this exceedingly well. They also took up the mantle of grooms in the 1970’s wanting to make their own wedding cake.

If you seek a theatre show that’s uplifting, happy and full of laughter, Fly Girl is hard to beat. Highly recommended.