Review: THE CLUB at Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Tuesday 9th April.

What we see on the footy field is often far less dramatic than what's happening elsewhere behind the scenes. David Williamson's 1977 play, The Club, went off-field to examine the power plays of the administration, when the coach and the chair are at loggerheads over the future of the club, when the star recruit decides not to play, and when tradition meets the future.

It was written when Aussie Rules football was transitioning into a new world of business, when teams went into debt or sought commercial sponsorship to buy new players from outside their traditional recruiting base, exemplified by the father/son rule.

In contemporary Australia, the power and influence of old white men is being questioned in many arenas and the play, its issues and its personalities, is instantly recognizable. This is the footy show which puts the boots on and then puts the boot in.

Although presented under the State Theatre of South Australia programme, four companies are listed as producers and presenting partners but this work is essentially by the interestingly named local company, is this yours? This is the all-female, three-actor version, which brings together the satire of male politics of Williamson and a developing tradition of women playing male roles, either for comedic purposes, or to take on the challenge of roles originally conceived with male actors in mind. Glenda Jackson, at 83, is playing King Lear on Broadway. Many Australian comedy shows have featured male impersonators.

Tessa Leong is the director, with the sets and costumes by Renate Henschke, and the lighting design by Susan Grey-Gardner.

The six male roles are taken by Louisa Mignone as Gerry and Geoff, Nadia Rossi as Ted and Jock, and Ellen Steele as Laurie and Danny. They create such characterisations, their timing is so acute, that the play becomes a riotous carnival of impersonation. The text is played straight but the rapid character changes, aided by polyester wigs that can be magnetically raised and lowered, and false moustaches, add levels of farce and athleticism.

So far so good but, as a mate remarked during the interval, this is a game of two halves.

I was waiting for the opening scene of the second half. It features one of the great moments of Australian comic theatre, when the star recruit, Geoff, introduces the club president to hash. He then recounts the cause of his moral and sporting malaise. All I'll say is that it involves incest, his amputee sister, his mother's involvement, and his father's suicide.

The lights come up. Leong has taken the macho concept, known to some as dick measuring, and inflated the metaphor with audacious costuming. That, and the reduction of the set to a painted drop with velcroed images, moves the play further from naturalism into a surreal set of routines, as costumes are removed and lipstick is applied. The three actors become less women playing men and become women at play, with their own set of rules, kicking Williamson's text around.

Now, of course, the big development in Aussie Rules is the Women's League. This challenges many male attitudes to the sport and has provoked a lot of opposition from traditionalists. Director Leong features an iconic and historical photograph on the wall, and in a soundscape, created by Catherine Oates, brings in 2019, and the trolling of Tayla Harris. It's a subtle touch, almost lost in the bravura.

I've only ever been to one AFL (Australian Football League) match, and even I could see that if a Norwood player kicked the ball a long way, and there was always a Sturt player to collect the ball and score, that Sturt would probably win. In this production of The Club, almost every kick gets the ball through those white sticks. To post a comment, you must register and login.

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