Edinburgh Fringe 2024
You Can’t Escape An Aussie Boy
Flathead Fabrications (Australia)
Genre: Comedy, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: C Arts (Aurora)
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Ten minutes into this thing and I was wondering what I’d let myself in for but by the time the rather clever and unexpected denouement hove into view I was thoroughly invested in it. There’s a lot to admire in this tale of an Aussie Rules footie team a bit down on its luck; quick fire banter; dark humour; moral dilemmas that keep cropping up (that are not always resolved); universally strong acting from the trio; the creative use of the very small stage space and beyond.
Review
Sport is virtually a religion down under and Aussie footie is, despite what their cricketing and rugby counterparts might contend, the high altar in terms of its place in the average alpha male’s psyche. It attracts the biggest and best and never seems to be short of a buck or two, with corporate sponsors beating a path to the doors of the successful.
Marydale Tigers Football Club, however, has been a little short of knocks on their door, spending the last twenty years living on the proverbial shoestring, bankrolled by a President whose provenance (and adherence to good accounting practices) seems, shall we say, to be a tad shady.
Failing to make finals day has become the norm with the club slowly sinking into the mire, literally in their case given the total absence of pitch drainage and the increasingly frequent biblical downpours that are becoming a worrying part of the 21st century Australian climate.
Stephen (Steve to his mates), Dan and Tim are steeped in the club and face a dilemma. Do nothing and most likely their dreams will implode. But do something? Them?
Come on, this ain’t rocket science, is it? Any idiot can run a sports club for heaven’s sake! All you need is a pitch, a ball, a few players and a bar to drown your sorrows in afterwards. Right?
This intriguing piece of theatre starts at the end – just after the club threatens to recreate its former glories by getting to and hosting its first finals day in decades, the clubhouse and stadium burn down in quite mysterious circumstances. Yet no-one will answer the persistent questions of the reporter from Channel 4 News wanting a statement on the latest, and most devastating, debacle to strike this outfit.
Fast backwards to the beginning and so begins fifty minutes of pulsating, quick fire dialogue, littered, it has to be said, with male changing room banter, a lot of local patois (really amusing once your ear becomes attuned to it) and a lot of humour darker than a moonless night. Oh, and a plot with twists, turns and hairpin bends at frequent intervals, just to keep the audience on its toes.
Our three protagonists come up with a plan to restore the club’s fortunes. Unfortunately it derails almost before the metaphorical train has puffed out of the station. Cash, or a chronic lack of it, forces compromises in terms playing personnel, coaching personnel, promotion personnel – in fact almost any kind of decent, reliable and competent personnel. Yet somehow, Marydale Tigers stagger their way through to their first finals day in decades.
But can they cause the upset of the century and win more than just sympathy – after all, winning is winning, even if it’s ugly? Can our intrepid trio secure a new sponsor to inject the cash required to keep the lights on? And will that ancient gas boiler kick into life and get some heating into the place – Aussie winters can be a bit nippy?
Ten minutes into this thing and I was wondering what the chuff I’d let myself in for by agreeing to publicist, writer, co-producer and actor Shane Palmer’s naggings to come along and review it. But by the time the rather clever and unexpected denouement hove into view I was thoroughly invested in the action at C Aurora’s quaint Lauriston Street venue.
There’s much to admire; quick fire banter between actors clearly comfortable with each other; the dark humour; the moral dilemmas that keep cropping up; the universally strong acting from the trio; the simple setting that oozed impecunity; creative use of the very small stage space and beyond.
Hats off then to the aforementioned Shane Palmer (playing Steve Doolan), Jeremy Harland (Dan Davies) and Nathan Wright (Tim Bramwell) for an excellent piece of theatre that provides an extremely entertaining, enlightening insight into life in an Aussie rules footie team.
This is one of those wonderful Fringe “hidden gems”. The venue might be a little bit out of mainstream but the quality of this show in terms of both its acting and writing deserves a bigger crowd so, if you don’t mind a bit of “lads banter” and the occasional bit of strong language, mosey on down there.
