Review: IN THE CLUB: ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2018 at Odeon Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Tuesday 27th February 2018.

Award-winning playwright, Patricia Cornelius, wrote In the Club as a commissioned work for the State Theatre Company of South Australia, specifically, for the State Theatre Company Ensemble and the company's Artistic Director, Geordie Brookman, who directed the production.

Annie, Ruby, and Olivia are each having a night out. Unfortunately, for them, they run into a bunch of AFL (Australian Football League) football players, and things rapidly go downhill. First, though, the three women each appear and reminisce on their childhoods, and the loss of innocence around the age of sixteen. Each of these extended monologues provides an insight into being a woman in a male-dominated world.

Miranda Daughtry is Annie, Rachel Burke is Olivia, and Ana Steen is Ruby. Annie grew up idolising the members of her favourite team, her boys, until she met them face to face and realised she was nothing more to them other than an anonymous sexual dalliance. Olivia has never seen a football game, and is looking for love or, at least, very special sex. Ruby Was sexually aware early, and knows how to flirt, believing that she is the one in control of every situation.

Many Australians are sports mad, with many hours a week on television devoted to coverage of football, tennis, and cricket, and Australian Rules footballers, in particular, are feted and treated like heroes, demigods, who can do no wrong. Too many players, it seems, believe that they can get away with anything. Bad behaviour is not uncommon and, yes, there does seem to be a dismissal of much of it as simply having fun.

Night Games is a multi-award winning, non-fiction book by Anna Krien, published in 2013, about the trial of an Australian Rules footballer accused of rape, a trial that initially involved other players in a charge of gang rape. According to Cornelius, that book is partly the inspiration for this work.

Rashidi Edward, Dale March, and Nathan O'Keefe are Angus, Sean, and James, self-centred and believing themselves to be entitled, accepting the adulation that comes their way, simply for being good at a game of football. They treat women badly, as though they had no feelings and were just their personal playthings, toys to be used, abused, and discarded when the novelty had worn off. Should a rape victim accuse a footballer she is more than likely to be accused as the evil person trying to bring down a great man, because of this twisted perspective to which players and fans alike, subscribe.

Brookman has assembled a wonderful cast for this production, and has added a strong physicality to the performance that echoes and enhances the text. All six performers create strong believable characters and generate a series of powerful interactions in this intense ninety minutes of superb theatre.

Although the focus is primarily on the three women, the three footballers are equally important, and the cast work as a very tight ensemble, each shining in individual moments, in couples, and in groups of all sizes, giving a great variety of situations, gradually building to the ultimate climax.

The six performers are marvellous, offering uncompromising interpretations of their characters, taking risks, and presenting moving and confronting situations with stark realism.

This is a powerful, intense production, and the staging, on a soaked floor with occasional showers, and with patches of light focussing the attention, designed by Geoff Cobham and Chris Petridis, along with a harsh soundtrack from composer Gazelle Twin and sound from Andrew Howard, add extra emphasis.

As the first State Theatre production for the year, and the Adelaide Festival opening production, this is an exciting venture that will leave audiences somewhat stunned, and it will be remembered for a long time. If you don't already have tickets, don't delay.

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