A Model Murder – the best show in the Sydney Festival so far

  • A Model Murder is based on the true story of a 22-year-old model who shot her lover outside a Kings Cross nightclub.
  • It captivated Sydney – so much so that women queued for hours to watch.
  • Now it’s been turned into a very watchable musical with lots of messages for the Sydney of today.

It’s the story of a blonde mattress model who shot her cheating boyfriend at a Sydney King’s Cross nightclub in 1954. It made headlines every day and captivated a city.

It wasn’t just a seedy underworld story of unrequited love. It was about the emancipation of women, the dominance of men and the beginnings of how mass media could change the course of events.

A Model Murder is as relevant today as it was seven decades ago, as the excellent cast is quick to point out.

Women turned up every day with Thermos flasks and sandwiches to queue for a seat at the Darlinghurst Courthouse. They hung on every word from the bewigged barristers – and often could be heard whispering “Bless you, Shirl”.

Why? Nine years after the end of the Second World War women were being forced to return to the kitchen after running the country while their men were away. Attractive and well-dressed Shirley, 22, became a bit of an icon and a metaphor for freedom.

Small wonder the jury came up with a verdict that completely shocked the country (I won’t spoil it just in case you don’t know). A jury of men because, amazingly, women were only allowed to serve in such legal capacities after 1997. Yes, 28 years ago!

A Model Murder sounds on paper as if it could easily go horribly wrong. A real-life trial turned into a musical and set in the actual court it was held.

We’ve just watched Lord of the Rings, The Musical and decided not every story can be turned into a toe-tapping, finger-snapping song and dance show.

There’s even more risk here as the audience plays the jurors and one is picked to play the judge.

A Model Murder - Sydney Festival 2025
A Model Murder – Sydney Festival 2025

Yet writer Melanie Tait and director Sheridan Harbridge have created a telling and hilarious 70-minutes of fun as well as making some telling points about Australia in the fifties. You can’t ask for more in an evening’s entertainment.

A stunning performance by Amber McMahon as Lyal Richardson, the 2KY radio announcer who narrates the story and sings and dances her way through the trial.

And who will forget the two barristers suddenly revealing sheer black bejewelled stockings and high heels.

There are just seven in the cast – but the audience has to be included, as those who buy tickets to the court room dress in the headscarves and specs of the time to give the room a fifties feel.

A Model Murder - Sydney Festival 2025
Chequers – the nightclub where the shooting took place

Sheridan Harbridge has a note in the program: “‘Come to court see a trial have you? There’s murder, violence, adultery, treachery, everything that Sydney holds dear.’ 

“An enormous amount of mystery still shrouds the Shirley Beiger story. The coverage of the trial, while extensive, didn’t always allow for easy answers about how these events played out, or why. T

“he media’s obsession with Shirley, a young and beautiful woman with a successful modelling career, is not unlike the story of Luigi Mangione playing out in the American press at present.

“The “hot assassin” obsession is fascinating and disturbing, and this show delves into why an admitted murderer was elevated to a folk heroine to the women of Sydney.

“What was going on in Australia 1954 — that rallied a city behind a beautiful bad girl who took a man’s life?

“ The story of Arthur Griffith’s death, and Shirley’s subsequent trial for his murder, has the intoxicating lure of old-world Sydney. The story of crime and glamour, on the streets of the Cross in 1954, sent Sydney into a frenzy”

The production is in partnership with the Supreme Court and supported by the Department of Communities and Justice Special.

It ends on January 25 – unless a professional impresario like Michael Cassels can prise it from the Festival and give it a run in a commercial theatre.

After all, he made another of our favourites, Titanique,a smash!

What: A Model Murder

Where: Darlinghurst Courthouse 4-25 of January, 2025

Story by Melanie Tait Written and Directed by Sheridan Harbridge

Commissioned by Sydney Festival

Tickets: Sydneyfestival.org.au

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