CONTEST: Netball Court Becomes Battleground Drama for Women's Endurance

 

Space Jump Theatre Company brings Emilie Collyer's poetic intensity to Flight Path Theatre. 

The netball court provides a deceptively simple setting for this complex drama. Emilie Collyer's Contest, directed by Kirsty Semaan for Space Jump Theatre Company, uses the confined space and rigid rules of suburban sport to examine the pressures, rivalries, and unspoken hierarchies that shape women's lives both on and off the court.

Running at Flight Path Theatre from March 17-28, the production positions itself as "bold, immersive, and unforgettable." This is language that suggests ambitions extending beyond conventional sports drama into something more formally adventurous. Collyer's reputation for work that explores "the intersection of the personal, the existential, and the socio-political" reflects a playwright who is interested in using familiar settings to illuminate larger questions about endurance, competition, and connection.

The premise centres on disruption. When new player Cass joins an established netball team, her arrival destabilises the fragile equilibrium the group has maintained. The character's namesake, the Greek prophetess cursed to speak truths no one believes, signals the role she'll play: revealing what others "cannot or will not" see, exposing the secrets and grievances that simmer beneath the surface of weekly games.

This mythological reference elevates the work beyond simple realism into territory where sport becomes a metaphor and the court transforms into a space where larger truths about women's experiences can be examined. The production description's emphasis on bodies moving "side by side, sweating, enduring, testing limits" suggests theatre that takes seriously the physical demands placed on women while using that physicality to explore broader themes of resilience and persistence.

Semaan's direction promises to blend stylised movement with poetic dialogue and raw physicality, a combination that requires some calibration to avoid either overwhelming naturalism with abstraction or reducing poetry to mere decoration. The involvement of movement director Amelia Pawsey means this production will treats choreography as essential to the storytelling, rather than as a supplemental flourish.

The minimalist design approach, a simple netball court set enhanced by Theo Carroll's lighting design, places emphasis on bodies in space and how movement creates meaning. This stripped-back aesthetic aligns with contemporary trends in Australian theatre toward environmental staging, where simple elements gain significance through how they're used rather than elaborate scenic construction.

Charlotte Leamon's composition and sound design face the challenge of creating an acoustic landscape that supports both the naturalistic sounds of sport and the more heightened poetic moments the script demands. The production's use of theatrical haze and loud noise, noted in sensory warnings, probably eludes to moments where the realistic court environment gives way to more expressionistic staging choices.

Collyer's track record establishes her as a playwright of substance. Awards and nominations including the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award, Queensland Premier's Drama Award, and multiple Green Room Awards exemplifies work that has earned both critical recognition and international production. Her most recent play Super at Red Stitch Theatre in 2025 demonstrates ongoing engagement with Australian theatrical landscape.

The cast (Melissa Jones, Willa King, Suz Mawer, Emma Monk, and Lana Morgan) does represent a range of ages and experience levels appropriate for dramatising a suburban netball team. The production's stated commitment to representing "women of every age, shape, size, and ability" is well demobstrated here, resisting conventional theatrical beauty standards in favour of authentic representation.

Space Jump Theatre Company's mission to present "bold, thought-provoking theatre for, by, and about women" positions Contest within a broader artistic program focused on female voices and experiences. Semaan's dual role as director and producer, combined with her background in visual storytelling through photography, likely promises attention to how the production will read visually as well as textually.

The content warnings (strong language, references to sexual content, domestic violence, suicide, and mental health challenges) indicate a work that doesn't shy away from difficult subject matter. The question posed in promotional materials, "what still aches after the whistle blows?" obviously points to how competition and conflict leave lasting marks that extend beyond the immediate game.

This production takes women's experiences seriously while employing formal inventiveness to tell those stories. Contest promises an experinece that uses the familiar setting of neighbourhood sport to illuminate less visible truths about persistence, rivalry, and what it costs to keep playing.

Contest runs March 17-28 at Flight Path Theatre, Marrickville. Tickets and more info at: https://www.flightpaththeatre.org/whats-on/contest