Review: THE APPLETON LADIES' POTATO RACE at Royalty Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 9th June 2021.

The State Theatre Company of South Australia is presenting Melanie Tait's comedy, The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race, a work that was inspired by true events. The race, an event at the annual Appleton Show, involves carrying a 20kg sack of potatoes around a 400-metre long track on the football oval (Australian Rules football is played on an oval playing field). Penny Anderson, a doctor returning to her hometown after 20 years, is appalled to find that the winner of the men's race gets $1,000, but the winner of the women's race gets only $200. She is determined to do something about it. Local, Barb Ling, is gradually won over in favour of the change, but her friend, Bev Armstrong, is quite happy with the status quo and resists the attempt to change the situation. The men, after all, carry 50kg sacks of potatoes. She sees penny as just one more of the wealthy city folk, moving to a rural lifestyle. Penny is surprised when emotions run high and even erupt into fury, with personal attacks on social media.

In 2018, Tait returned to her own childhood home, Robertstown, in New South Wales, to exactly that situation, and set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money to ensure that the women were treated equally. She wrote this play based on that experience.

Penny, played by Anna Steen, is, of course, based on Tait, and the other characters in the play are also based on real people. Divorced from her wife, and a vegetarian, Penny has come home to become the conservative town's new doctor, but she is now seen as an outsider, and her interfering in a local tradition ruffles a good many feathers, with unexpected vitriol aimed not only at her, but also at those who agree with her. Steen conveys Penny's emotional ups and downs with skill and convictions, personifying the clash between old and new attitudes.

Carmel Johnson plays Bev Armstrong, Penny's aunt, and Genevieve Mooy plays Barb Ling. They are the senior women in the group, and chairperson and secretary respectively of the Appleton Show Committee. With the other members constantly missing, the two of them are, essentially, the entire committee. Johnson gives a strong performance as the rigid and brittle Bev, the immovable object blocking Penny's irresistible force. Mooy brings sensitivity to the role of Barb, mediating and attempting to smooth the troubled waters.

Sarah Brokensha plays Nikki Armstrong, Penny's hairdresser cousin, mother of four boys, married to a drug addict, coach of the boys' rugby team, and regular winner of the race. She is proud of her status as a bogan (in America there are rednecks, in England there are chavs and, although not directly equivalent, if you live in either of those countries, you'll get a rough idea of what is meant by an Australian bogan). Brokensha fills her character with enthusiasm and energy coupled with great physicality.

Susie Youssef plays Nikki's friend, Rania Hamid, a single parent who came to Australia, with her daughter, from Aleppo, in Syria. She is practicing with Nikki, in order to compete in the race. She is also trying hard to fit in and be accepted by the town's residents. Youssef brings a gentle touch to the role, bringing out Rania's inner strength when she stands up for what is right and fair.

Kathryn Sproul has come up with another very inventive set design with panels suggesting corrugated iron walls, and using enormous cross-stitch samplers, appearing to indicate the various scenes. Nic Mollison has used Sproul's set as a screen for the projection of his highly varied lighting design, and Andrew Howard's music and sound design is used to good effect.

Director, Elena Carapetis, has taken these larger-than-life characters and given them over-the-top performances, peaking in almost cartoon-like caricatures in sections, such as Nikki shouting instructions to her team at a rugby match, and Penny going door to door with her donations tin. Beneath all that fun and laughter, though, there are serious issues being dealt with. To go into all of that would take away from the enjoyment of the performance, so you'll just have to buy tickets.

Photography, Thomas McCamm.

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