Having premiered last month in Melbourne, the home of AFL, 37 now brings its monumental energy and atmosphere to Queensland audiences in the Bille Brown Theatre. Written by Nathan Maynard and directed by Queensland Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director (First Nations) Isaac Drandic – who also collaborated on last year’s At What Cost?, co-produced by Belvoir and Queensland Theatre – 37 is a new Australian play that returns to one of AFL’s defining cultural moments and the broader conversation it brought to the forefront about racism in Australian sport.
Set in 2015, the year of Adam Goodes’ war cry in a match against Carlton – and titled after Goodes’ Sydney Swans guernsey number – 37 follows cousins and talented AFL players Sonny (Tibian Wyles) and Jayma (Ngali Shaw) as they chase their sporting dreams from the valley to the coast league to play for the Cutting Cove Currawongs. Jayma wants to follow in the footsteps of his late father, who played for the Currawongs but was famously a no-show for the premiership final. Sonny sees an opportunity to create financial stability for his family and shares Jayma’s enthusiasm to honour the Aboriginal game of marngrook, which is asserted to have inspired the founder of Australian rules football.
The Currawongs – whose guernsey colours are black and white – are coached by former premiership player The General (Syd Brisbane) but have never won a premiership flag in their 20-something years as a club. In fact, last year they finished at the very bottom of the ladder. The other players from the small town of Cutting Cove include seventh generation sheep farmer Woodsy (Eddie Orton), whose family sponsors the team, good-hearted but aging team captain Joe (Ben O’Toole), long-time player and Currawongs board member Dazza (Anthony Standish), and The General’s son GJ (Thomas Larkin).
Like their teammates, Sonny and Jayma endure some hazing at training camp and some ribbing in the locker room, but it becomes clear that there is division, competition, and even resentment as the Marngrook cousins quickly emerge as the team’s strongest players. They are the only Aboriginal men on the team, and tensions and tempers flare between the players on issues of race. Despite the attempted interventions of Currawongs captain Joe, Sonny and Jayma face nasty comments, ignorant assumptions, and racist jibes in the changing rooms, at the pub, and on the field, and they both react in different ways.
The structure of the play allowed the audience to hear the comments and conversations about the Marngrook cousins that happened behind their back as well as to their faces. Sonny and Jayma’s experiences were also contrasted against those of their teammates Ant (Costa D’Angelo), who was Italian-Australian, and Gorby (Mitchell Brotz), who the other players teased about his weight and intelligence. The character of Apples (Samuel Buckley) was perhaps the least believable in context but served an important dramatic purpose, acting as a counterpoint to the extremes that Woodsy represented and speaking up repeatedly against his teammates’ bad behaviour.
From the first to the final moments, 37 demanded an enormous amount of energy and physical stamina from its cast of ten, and they delivered in spades. From slow motion brawls – with fight choreography by Lyndall Grant and intimacy coordination by Isabella Vadiveloo – to AFL training drills and artfully choreographed gameplay, the energy of the actors carried the audience all the way through to the nail-biting final moments of the premiership game.
Lighting design by Ben Hughes and composition and sound design by James Henry, with Associate Sound Designer Wil Hughes, contributed significantly to the atmosphere and tension of the play, especially during the training and game montages. Set and costume design by Dale Ferguson included the large design of a currawong watching from the walls, and locker room benches were rearranged by the players to form other key locations. Even identically dressed in their team uniforms, the Currawongs’ costuming distinguished and deepened their characters with additions and accessories like safety gear, compression undergarments, and strapping tape.
The movement of 37, co-choreographed by Drandic and Waangenga Blanco, included elements of cultural dance as well as coordinating the sounds of the body – breathing, slapping the ground – with movement to create memorable and impactful scenes. Movement was also used to play with time, slowing down some moments and speeding up others. From heavy breaths to the crack of a beer can, everything was meticulously choreographed and coordinated.
37 makes a meaningful contribution to the growing canon of Australian sporting stories developed for the stage, as well as to the broader and beloved tradition of underdog sports stories in general. Using football as an entry point to drive conversations about racism, masculinity, and personal integrity in modern Australia, 37 crafted an immaculate sense of atmosphere and the cast delivered astonishingly athletic and dramatically engaging performances.
37 will be performed at the Bille Brown Theatre from 11 April – 4 May 2024
For ticketing and further information, visit the Queensland Theatre website
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