bReview: HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr
Friday 14 March 2025 at Q Theatre
Words by Mikaela Stroud
Q Theatre has welcomed Heather Massie to their Rangatira stage in HEDY! for Auckland Arts Festival 一 A one woman show about the life and accomplishments of renowned actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
Playing a cast of around 30+ people in all, her use of stage and characterisation transports the audience from 2025 to the 1930s, following her life leaving Austria to her film career in Hollywood, motherhood, love, loss, and her brilliant mind that solved the problem with torpedoes with her groundbreaking frequency hopping communication, which we all carry in our pockets today as the foundation of our bluetooth and WiFi systems.
Heather dazzled and shone throughout the entire performance. The opening scene, behind a screen, showcasing some of Lamarr’s most iconic lines from films such as Sampson and Delilah, Strange Woman, Algiers, and more before joining the audience on stage. She drifted from character to character effortlessly, embodying CEO’s of MGM, close friends Bette Davis and Jimmy Stewart, and Hedy herself with such poise and power. Grace and passion dripped off her every word, using time and space to her advantage as she spoke directly to the audience as the oratier of her story.
Simple changes in light and sound had you in her hometown of Austria, speaking to her father about the science of steam engines as a little girl. Another shift, and she was escaping her controlling first husband in disguise as her maid and crossing the border to France as the Nazi’s were gaining power and control, all from her figurative living room.
As she invited us into her world, she stepped into ours, interacting with the audience and engaging with us individually. She begged the question; what could have happened? What could have happened if Hedy Lamarr’s invention had been used when the patent was developed? What if the US Navy hadn’t shelved the project until the Cuban Missile Crisis, instead of 15 years earlier, before the use of the Atomic Bomb in Japan. How many more lives could have been saved? How different would the world be today?
Massie held a Q&A after her performance, talking about her history and why she wanted to tell the story of Hedy Lamarr. As a student of Astrophysics herself at one time, she had always loved the sciences and had dreamed of becoming an astronaut before she discovered the art of theatre. As she was developing her show, a touring one woman show, she decided to marry her love of STEM and theatre by portraying Hedy Lamarr, a perfect balance of both worlds. The show premiered off broadway in 2016, touring across the USA, Europe and Africa before landing here in Auckland, with the goal of “inspiring audiences to pursue their passions, especially young women in science and tech, and to establish Lamarr as a role model for intelligence, ingenuity and invention.” Her next show will be inspired by Sally Ride, first woman in space.
What really stood out in her performance was her encouragement, to women and any others who may feel underestimated, underappreciated, and on the outside, to believe in themselves and their ideas.
“Give the world the best you have and you'll be kicked into the teeth - give the world the best you've got anyway.”
95bFM 
