Currently playing at The State Theatre Centre, The Game, is a dive into the difficulties faced by professional and aspiring women in sports. Focused mostly around football and the recent rise in prominence of The Matilda’s, The Game is a part-dance, part-absurd meta commentary unpacking the history of misogyny in sports and how it still plagues the lives of professional athletes.
The underlying linear plot of the show is focused on a football game played by vaguely local team ‘The Mighty Movers’ who battle through a number of pervasive issues. The ignorance of how injuries affect women in greater numbers and impact, sexualisation, transphobia, fetishisation, homophobia, pay gap, and just the institutional misogyny that exists throughout women’s sports. The show strikes a healthy balance jumping between expositional, informational moments to emotional personal journeys travelling through this industry. There were a few scenes of extended movement sections where I think the purpose became a bit unclear and, for me, the scenes lost the drive and motivation. Some more concise editing and clearer vision on these sections would have given the show a continuing rising tension I think it was looking for.
The ensemble is incredibly strong, Briannah Davis, Keana Mislang, Zakayyah Maclean, Bridgette Davies, and Delaney Brooklyn all work together in perfect sync. Expertly choreographed and performed, the highlights of the game demonstrate the skill these performers have, from dance, acting, and athleticism they are all superb. As an underlying commentator and expository character Lucy Wong smashes it out of the park, staying light on her toes she works well on the fly, reacting to the show, and driving the intensity of emotional peaks.
I recently saw this lead creative team in their immersive audio tour, Up There, and they really do astound in the variety of artistic visions they cover. Leah Robyn, as director ties so many elements together and juggles them well to create an affecting, emotional journey. Supported by William Gammel’s design and Tay Conway as dramaturg, the show is effective in taking us through the history and current hardships women face in professional sports.
The Game is on at State Theatre Centre of WA.