Inspired by the exploits of a famous con artist, Anna X flirts with questions of scamming and success

Updated May 31, 2026 — 2:09pm,first published May 29, 2026 — 1:14pm

Women who lie, cheat and steal are of perennial fascination to our collective imaginations. Their rapid ascents to success and stunning downfalls have been endlessly re-envisioned for the screen, whether it’s medical fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, homegrown pathological liar Belle Gibson, or Anna Delvey aka Anna Sorokin – the famed Russian con artist who masqueraded as a German heiress and swindled many New Yorkers out of their fortunes.

Taking inspiration from Sorokin’s exploits in Anna X, English playwright Joseph Charlton’s stage show – making its Australian premiere at Red Stitch – necessarily confines Anna’s sprawling web of lies, deceit and waylaid associates to one fictional relationship: the burgeoning romance between herself and start-up Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Ariel.

There’s nothing amorous about Anna and Ariel’s relationship. They’re almost never physically intimate, there’s no discernible chemistry between them, and they barely know each other. Each uses the other to further their own aims – Anna evidently wants money, while Ariel desires the cultural capital afforded by his association with Anna – but within such a hollow construction, the stakes never feel real, and the oddly detached saga leaves the play feeling distinctly unanchored.

However, the two leads wring everything from what they’ve been given, playing more than one character and switching between different accents, outfits and modes of being to bring a larger ensemble of people to life.

Becca Galvin struts in and out of Louisa Fitzgerald’s modular stage, enunciating each haughty word with the same pan-European accent that the real Anna is infamous for, even if the specifics differ. Garbed in the East European uniform of branded tracksuit pants, faux fur and heeled boots, Galvin’s Anna is flighty, cutting and ultimately unknowable.

Tom Stokes brings a palpable physicality to the character of Ariel, nervously gesticulating with barely suppressed anxiety and bounding around the stage, beseeching Anna for a modicum of affection.

Dressed in a muscle tee and gold chain that looks more gangster than coder, Stokes lends some much-needed coherence to an inexplicable character who curiously retains a veneer of decency despite essentially creating an exclusive members-only dating app.

Director Tait de Lorenzo brings some much-needed pizzazz to the unfolding of this story. Anna and Ariel’s drug-imbued first exchange kicks off the play – thrillingly reimagined in a rapidly projected back-and-forth on a central s