FIERCE

Theatre Works FIERCE - photo by Sarah WalkerAs the 2018 AFL season gets underway in Melbourne, the world premiere of FIERCE asks the question, what would happen if a woman was good enough to compete against men?

Suzie Flack has made it. She’s finally made it into the big league. The first ever female footballer to play professionally with the blokes. Which is why you haven’t heard of her – she’s a work of fiction… she doesn’t exist… well, not yet! In sports where speed, strength, agility and power are necessary, no female has competed against men at the highest level.

Written by Jane e Thompson, FIERCE is an ode to the drama that is AFL football, masculine culture and a prevailing idea of ‘Australian-ness’. Intergenerational relationships, social isolations, gender bias and intimacy all framed by the intense and heightened world of men’s professional sport.

This powerful play about women attempting to enter into the male dominated world of Australian football will be directed by Alice Darling and will feature actors Ellen Marning, Syd Brisbane, Nick Clark, Khisraw Jones-Shukoor, John Shearman, Rebekah Robertson and Izabella Yena.

Jane e Thompson is a Melbourne-based playwright. She has spent the last 20 years in theatre as an actor, playwright, director, costume designer, dramaturg, spectator, sometimes student, sometimes autodidact. In 2016 she completed a Master of Writing for Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts; and was a recipient of the Besen Family Artist Program Writers’ Development Workshop at the Malthouse Theatre with mentors Mark Pritchard and Declan Greene.

Director: Alice Darling Featuring: Ellen Marning, Syd Brisbane, Nick Clark, Khisraw Jones-Shukoor, John Shearman, Rebekah Robertson, Izabella Yena Lighting Design: Rob Sowinski Sound Design: Russell Goldsmith Associate Sound Designer: Sidney Miller Production Dramaturg: Iain Sinclair Set & Costume Designer: Yvette Turner Set & Costume Associate Designer: Monique Langford Dramaturgy: Raimondo Cortese & Richard Murphet Stage Manager: Jacinta Anderson Producer & Production Manager: Julia Truong Associate Producer & Production Manager: Hristina Tsingas

FIERCE
Theatre Works, 14 Acland Street, St. Kilda
Season: 29 March – 8 April 2018 (preview: 28 March)
Information and Bookings: www.theatreworks.org.au

Image: photo by Sarah Walker