Directing RBG: Priscilla Jackman on Intimacy, Scale, and Storytelling
Published: Wednesday 8 April 2026
As RBG: Of Many, One makes its New Zealand debut, Director Priscilla Jackman reflects on shaping a one‑woman epic, collaborating with Suzie Miller and Heather Mitchell, and why the play’s themes of justice, equality, and democracy continue to resonate powerfully with audiences.
Priscilla Jackman
Please introduce yourself. What is your role in this production?
My name is Priscilla Jackman and I am the director of RBG: Of Many, One by Suzie Miller.
You've worked extensively across Australia, but this is the first time many New Zealanders will experience your work. What drew you personally to Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life story, and what compelled you to take on the challenge of directing this one‑woman play?
I remember very clearly the day Kip Williams, who was the Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company at the time, brought me into his office and offered me the opportunity to direct RBG. He talked to me about this new play by Suzie Miller (who was a friend through our shared networks, but who I had not yet worked with), which would star Heather Mitchell as Supreme Court Judge, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Heather and I have a very close relationship having worked on a previous production based on another real-life extraordinary woman, STILL POINT TURNING: THE CATHERINE MCGREGOR STORY (also a STC production, in 2018). Well for me, the opportunity to work with Suzie and Heather, on a play about Ruth Bader Ginsberg... just felt like the golden trifecta!!! Three astonishing women: Suzie, Heather, Ruth in one production?!!! It was a no-brainer for me!!! I was not only drawn to the material itself, and of course the extraordinary life and work of RBG, but also to the challenges of the play's unique form as a 'monodrama' (a term coined by Suzie) and what we might achieve with this exceptional opportunity to work together on this special play.
The play spans decades of RBG's life and significant moments in global politics. How did you approach visual and theatrical storytelling to convey such a large narrative in an intimate format?
That's a great question - yes the script is expansive, we traverse almost a century - an extraordinary life, as we witness RBG from 13 years to 87 inclusive. Yet the impact and tone for the audience needs to be one of absolute intimacy almost as if we are inviting the audience to an experience of what it may have been like to be in the same room as RBG herself. I was very very invested in appointing the right artists to my creative team to achieve the absolute precision and depth of collaboration I believe the script required - and could not be more proud of my creative team, and the sophistication and innovation of the work we achieved, within the very tight parameters and complex demands of the text. These include: David Fleischer (set and costume), Paul Chalier (sound & composition) and Alex Berlage (lighting designer). The script requires rapid transitions in time, place, location, setting and of course character. Not only does Heather take on RBG at every stage of her life, but she also embodies every other character we encounter through the course of the production, including Marty (Ruth's husband), her children and grandchildren, her mother Celia, several supreme court judges, work colleagues and three iconic US presidents (Clinton, Obama and Trump) to name a few!
My vision from the outset was very clear about the importance of always placing Heather and her virtuosic performance at the absolute heart of the production. And yet I was interested in exploring a highly visual theatrical aesthetic - that was innovative in distilling the carefully crafted moments in an absolute essentialism of storytelling. This required deep collaboration across all production elements and a precision to achieve the seamless 'essentialism' of the aesthetic - inviting the audience to actively imagine the swift changes in location, time, character with simply a shift in lighting, sound, posture, accent, or a singular costume or prop such as a pair of glasses or a singular chair. - as we navigate the audience through the journey of this extraordinary woman's life.
“The impact and tone for the audience needs to be one of absolute intimacy — almost as if we are inviting them into what it may have felt like to be in the same room as RBG herself.”
"My vision from the outset was very clear about the importance of always placing Heather and her virtuosic performance at the absolute heart of the production."
You've had an ongoing creative partnership with playwright Suzie Miller. How did the two of you collaborate on shaping the tone, rhythm, and emotional journey of RBG: Of Many, One?
The collaboration was very fruitful and full of great discussion and many, many, many drafts and re-writes!! I think the image of the sculptor who carves out her statue from the stone block is a great metaphor for creating new work. Well before the rehearsals commenced, for many months, Suzie would send drafts to both Heather and I and we would feedback extensive notes for her consideration. By the time we got to rehearsals, we would workshop key moments on the floor - testing, refining, polishing, exploring. Suzie was with us for the first couple of weeks of rehearsal and then joined us towards the end of the process for runs in the rehearsal room, continuing to send some rewrites, and edits. That first preview is always a white knuckle ride, as in many ways, until we have an audience, we have not really learnt all we need to know about a new work. The support and response from the audience in those first few previews was absolutely astonishing. I will never forget their response and the depth of their willingness to be utterly moved by the production, by the power of Suzie's words, RBGs message and of course Heather's extraordinary portrayal of this iconic woman.
One‑actor shows rely heavily on direction to maintain energy, variation, and audience connection. What were the key staging or design decisions that support the performer and keep the storytelling dynamic?
My work with David Fleischer (Set & Costume Designer) was a fundamental partnership in initially unlocking the 'form' of the work. We knew that the set had to be abstract as we needed to rapidly and consistently transition time, space, location, setting - and that the ability to do this clearly and precisely, honouring the complexity of the story telling, would rely on the interplay and absolute cohesion of set design with all other design elements including costuming, lighting, composition and sound design. David and I spent weeks researching and studying the environments that Ruth inhabited in real life - we took inspiration in particular from the Kennedy Centre (where she loved to watch opera) and the Supreme Courts themselves. David's exquisite and elegant structure which creates the basis of our set, is reminiscent of both the sandstones of established government buildings, while also at times appearing as translucent as an opera curtain. This structure became the ultimate 'pallet' that we could then using lighting to evoke different time, places, location, tone etc. We use just one arm chair for the entire production, and three costume changes to differentiate the three key chapters of Ruth's life that are explored in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Precision in the dramatic rhythm of the work, finding moments of tension, humour, energy, rhythm etc, is very much the loving and carefully crafted dance between myself as the director, Heather and audience, reliant on the cohesive interweaving of sound, lighting, movement and text - that are all essential to me in terms of achieving a seamless approach to storytelling.
In your directing process, were there moments or aspects of RBG's life that surprised you or shifted how you interpreted her legacy?
There were many moments that moved me greatly - I loved that Ruth loved opera and the arts - and wanted to really powerfully drive home this facet of her lifeforce. I loved the interspersing of RBG's direct quotes, which are embedded in Suzie's script, I was amazed in researching RBG's life of the extraordinary volume of cases, some of which Suzie has documented in the play, which RBG worked through tirelessly to create lasting change and equality. The rehearsal room is always a sacred space of rich discussion and the key historic questions around whether, in hindsight ,RBG should have retired in the Obama era, and of course, her spectacular fall from grace in speaking out against Trump in her later years always inspired great reflection and discourse in bringing the work to life.
This production has resonated strongly with audiences in Australia. What do you hope New Zealand audiences will connect with?
We have been overwhelmed with the response and support Australian audiences have shown the production. We have been welcomed to cities across the country - performing close to 300 productions over 4 seasons, across 4 years with close to 200,000 audience members seeing the work. The extraordinary journey of the work has been to create a production that not only continues to resonate but that actively continues to speak to the zeitgeist with such profound provocations, despite the seismic shifts the world has encountered since we began back in 2022. When we launched our premiere season back in 2022 we knew this was a play about an iconic individual and her extraordinary contribution to feminism. But as the world has continued to change so dramatically since then, Suzie's wonderful writing and indeed RBG's powerful messages mean that the play now stands for even more than this - yes - it is a play about the woman, RBG and a play about feminism, but it is also a play about justice, democracy and the fight for equality. And particularly in our current climate, these themes are incredibly potent not only for Australians and New Zealanders but for us all globally.
“Yes, it is a play about the woman, RBG, and a play about feminism — but it is also a play about justice, democracy, and the fight for equality.”
As audiences encounter your work in New Zealand for the first time, what lasting impression do you hope RBG: Of Many, One leaves them with?
I hope the work inspires audiences, not only in the political provocations and power of its themes but that may provide insights into this extraordinary woman and her contribution to us all around feminism, equality and justice. On another level, I hope audiences are deeply moved by the artistry they experience; by the power of Suzie Miller's wonderful text, by the work of the team to offer some artistic expression around what it may have felt to be in the room with RBG, and that they are transfixed by the sheer mastery and transformational power of Heather Mitchell's breathtaking performance. We are so grateful to be bringing RBG to wider audiences and beyond thrilled to share this very special production with you in New Zealand. Thank you for having us!!
RBG: Of Many, One opens at the ASB Waterfront Theatre on Wed 20 May and runs until Sun 7 Jun.
