The takedown of toxic masculinity that you must not miss
By Sonia Nair and Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
THEATRE
Trophy Boys ★★★★★
Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio, until July 21
An excoriating takedown of toxic masculinity and corrosive male entitlement performed entirely in drag by an all-female and non-binary cast? Trophy Boys made waves when it premiered in Melbourne last year, and it’s back for a return season at mainstage venues around the country. You’d be remiss not to see it.
Gaby Seow and Fran Sweeney-Nash in drag as private school debating boys.Credit: Ben Andrews
Centring on an all-boys debating team of four from an elite private school, Trophy Boys depicts the preparatory hour before their grand final, with the boys sequestered in a room that quickly begins to feel airless.
Forced to brainstorm the affirmative case for “feminism has failed women” – as portraits of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai overlook them – they unravel precipitously.
The boys catapult between well-constructed, philosophical arguments on why feminism has failed women – it’s not intersectional enough, it’s too focused on equality at a corporate level, it plays into the fallacy of “choice” – and the kind of textbook misogyny that no amount of intellectual reasoning can combat.
This cognitive dissonance – between what the boys are saying versus the deep-rooted misogyny within each of them – reaches an apex when a startling revelation prompts them to shed all artifice and turn on one another.
From left: Emmanuelle Mattana, Leigh Lule, Gaby Seow and Fran Sweeney-Nash in a scene from Trophy Boys.Credit: Ben Andrews
Emmanuelle Mattana, the talented multi-hyphenate writer and star of Trophy Boys, has crafted a script that’s as impudent and uproarious as it is dark and disturbing.
The play starts out as a light and lovable romp that pokes fun at the performance of gender – a crowd-pleasing highlight is when the boys gyrate and contort to the tune of Pretty Ricky’s Grind With Me in hilariously exaggerated and camp displays of sexualised masculinity.
But then the tone perceptibly shifts – aided by Katie Sfetkidis’ subtle yet effective lighting changes – as the play hurtles through its final act, operating on layer upon layer of meaning that it deconstructs and puts together several times over. The most important debate is not the one they’re preparing for, but the one happening in the room – but at what cost will they win it?
Mattana nails lynchpin character Owen, a supercilious brainiac hellbent on achieving his dream of becoming prime minister. Leigh Lule is suitably intense as the brooding David, Fran Sweeney-Nash expertly balances menace and humour as the swaggering ball of machismo Jared, and Gaby Seow beautifully blends vulnerability with explicit displays of masculinity and internalised homophobia as the hapless Scott. These characters all draw on archetypes, but they’re complex and nuanced, teeming with humanity even as they deny it to those they hurt the most.
Mattana was a high-school champion debater and her intimate knowledge of this world shines through. That the story has some similarities to the historical sexual assault allegations made against former attorney-general Christian Porter, himself a high school debater, is no accident – it’s the inspiration behind the play. Porter always strenuously denied the allegation and was never charged by police.
Women are both absent and shockingly present in Trophy Boys. There’s a moment towards the end when all four actors momentarily drop the shackles of playing men to illustrate significant moments of systemic abuse against women – it’s electrifying theatre, one of many such moments in the jam-packed 70 minutes.
Reviewed by Sonia Nair
MUSIC
Girl in Red ★★★★
Margaret Court Arena, July 17
Among young queer women, “do you listen to Girl in Red?” has become a sort of code. In the Norwegian musician, real name Marie Ulven Ringheim, they see themselves: someone who is unabashedly herself, but more than just her sexuality. The 25-year-old is also funny, sweet, depressed and horny, all communicated through her affable pop songs.
Girl in Red performs at Margaret Court Arena on July 17, 2024.Credit: Richard Clifford
Ringheim made her Australian debut in 2023, and returns to play a venue seven times the size. This rapidly rising popularity could be ascribed to the fact that she opened for Taylor Swift on the American leg of the blockbuster Eras Tour (one fan shouts out, “What does Taylor Swift smell like?” – fair question). Or it could just be that being in a space like this is life-affirming when you’re young and trying to find your people.
The live show is a high-energy experience. Ringheim is accompanied by a five-piece band, and sometimes straps a guitar on herself – but mostly she’s free to stalk the stage or dive into the crowd, as she does on You Stupid Bitch. On I’m Back and A Night to Remember, she sits at a keyboard, playing a few bars that she programs into a loop pedal so she can once again express with her whole body.
But what makes this show shine is the person behind it. Ringheim is both professional and immensely personable: she stops the show three times to alert security to fans who have fainted, then picks right back up again. She’s a charming storyteller, recounting the sweet, awkward tale of how she met her girlfriend.
Girl in Red – Marie Ulven Ringheim – is a charming storyteller.Credit: Richard Clifford
Early in the set, a T-shirt is thrown onto the stage: I Love Melbourne, it says, with messages scrawled all over it from fans. Ringheim immediately takes off her shirt (crowd screams) and wears the gift for the rest of the show. The joy is infectious.
Reviewed by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
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