REVIEW: Suzie Miller Turns The Spotlight on Women In Australian Rules Football with STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY

Saturday 24th October 2026, 7:30pm, Drama Theatre Sydney Opera House

The history of the long overdue inclusion of women into the Australian Football League (AFL) is latest subject of Suzie Miller’s unique brand of theatre in STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY.  Directed by Sarah Giles, this sports centric story is presented to engage even the most sport-adverse viewer, holding the female stories, struggles and achievements to the fore.

While Miller’s recent hit plays, PRIMA FACIE, and RBG: OF MANY, ONE, were monologues, STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY utilises a cast of eight performers.  Initially it feels as if it will follow a similar vein to the earlier works with Lucy Bell, Tara Morice and Amber McMahon leading three separate monologues with the remaining ensemble punctuating the story as the collective of men that posed roadblocks to the lawyer, the mother and the Australian Federal Police Officers’ fight for recognition, inclusion and acknowledgement.  What evolves is a blend of monologues and dramatized ‘reconstructions’ that show the power and determination that these women had to finally get women recognised at the same level as the popular mens professional AFL games.  Lucy Bell’s Alison Newtown is based of Sam Mostyn, the first female AFL commissioner and 28th Governor General of Australia.  Tara Morice’s Jane Hooper is referred to as the “Godmother of Women’s football” as even though she was never included in games as a child, she retained a love and dedication to the sport through her life with the character modelled off the West Coast Eagles No. 1 ticketholder Jan Cooper, the first female inducted into the WA Football Hall of Fame.  Amber McMahon’s Bev Heath, modelled off the inaugural coach of the Adelaide Football Club’s AFLW team, Bec Goddard, knows her experience as a player and a senior officer with the AFP, leading teams of men on major operations, is more than sufficient to coach a team but she’s never given the chance to lead a professional team until the tide turns in 2016.  As the story unfolds Edyll, Amy Hack, Amy Ingram, Nyasha Ogden and Contessa Treffone take on the other women in the story, as players that came from a variety of backgrounds to form the first AFLW teams, particularly the Adelaide Football Club’s women’s team, and additionally in Treffone’s case, reporter Susannah Knowles (modelled of journalist for The Age, Samantha Lane).

With the work easily able to stand on Miller’s words with little to no adornment, designer Christina Smith as kept the performance space bare with the feature being Paul Jackson’s lighting that starts with a spotlight on a red Sherrin football and banks of ‘field lights’ flanking the stage.  It is through the text and Kelley Abbey’s movement design that the story is told, utilising only minimal props and an LED signboard providing surtitle and subtitles, depending on where the screen was made to hover.  The bolder feature of Smith’s design is the costuming that reinforces the character’s other life outside of the AFLW while often retaining a degree of gender neutrality so they can present as the brash band of men that dominate the ‘chorus’ of misogynistic heckles, attacks and objections early on. The creativity between the movement and lighting allows for some captivating visuals and the LED signboard also holds some amusing elements to enhance the work while supporting the timeline. 

Sarah Giles has gathered eight incredibly talented women to tell the story.  The octet are not just skilled at the dramatic expression, ensuring the performances are nuanced, but the also express the humour in the writing and the physicality to react and interact with each other in non verbal ways.  There is a great pace to the piece, keeping the momentum of the story while allowing for jokes to land and silence to be held when required to add emphasis.

STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY is a powerful new piece of theatre that celebrates women’s fights and achievements.  Even for those not interested in sport, the underlying messages have a universality, and it serves as a reminder that there are still many elements of modern society that have only recent received the requisite inclusion and recognition and more that are still fighting those battles.  With a stellar cast, this is well worth catching regardless of your interest in sports.

Sydney Theatre Company - STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY

Photos: Prudence Upton