Reviewed by Paul Treasure
The worlds of Sport and Theatre are two widely separate worlds, and yet they do occasionally intersect. While there are a few that use sporting teams as microcosms in which to investigate various aspects of our interpersonal relationships and our views of success and failure, there are very few that do so in such a physical nature as Footy Boy.
The play follows four members of the mixed-gender football team the Dolphins as they find themselves at the bottom of the ladder and must find ways to fight their way back to make the Grand Final. Michael Kavanagh plays James Chappell, a promising young player who has hit a massive slump and is in imminent danger of being cut from the team, despite his obvious talent. Michael gets the bulk of the action as we follow him through his back story with his abusive father and former football legend Bill Chappell (played by Brad Francis). After a particularly nasty bump, James starts hearing a disembodied voice guiding him towards recovering his previous form.
The team captain, Hands (played by Alice Schlipalius), tries every left-field tactic in her book to inspire her team, including using crystals. A lot of the play’s comedy comes from her teammates, Butter (Summer Rule) and Cox (Jai Craig-Fraser), who are willing to try almost anything their captain suggests.
The most impressive component of this play is the sheer physicality of the younger performers. The various games are all acted out in remarkably athletic symbolic fashion. These are four performers who know how to move, and their displays are beautiful to watch. Boiling down typical and iconic football moves and rendering them gracefully as they pass the ball amongst themselves. It was these moments that felt to be the absolute heart of the show as they opened our eyes to how beautiful AFL football can be. The various training sections, while no less impressive, although occasionally hampered by cast members being just a beat out of time with the rest of their cast mates.
The climax of the show comes with the revelation that the disembodied voice that has been guiding James belongs to the spirit of his deceased father, who has been apotheosised into some God of Football. The costume that has been chosen for the father at this moment is absolutely ridiculous and absolutely perfect! The scripting of the ensuing scene as the father and son reconcile falls agonisingly short of realising some sort of emotional truth, robbing Kavanagh of what could have been a truly amazing scene. The final moments of the play get wonderfully back on track as James readies to take the kick that will either win or lose his team the Grand Final, with the play ending after he has kicked, without us learning the result. Because, in the end, winning or losing the game is largely immaterial, it is how you play the game that truly matters.
Footy Boy is a play with a lot of ambition, and it meets most of it admirably, especially with the physical prowess of its actors and the astonishing choreography of its game montages. This alone makes it one of the most memorable plays of this year’s fringe season.
Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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