It begins in the aftermath of a wake. At a tennis club. No, it begins during the Acknowledgement of Country. Wait, it began years ago. Centuries. Millennia.
The
aftermath of the wake. A celebration of the life of Betty Hughes, a legendary
tennis player, whose career is as memorable as the Charitable Foundation set up
in her name. A young First Nations woman, Ray, a fan of tennis and Betty, is
cleaning up the tennis club when she’s surprised by the arrival of Joshua, the
CFO of Betty’s Foundation. He’s slept in and missed the funeral and the after
party.
Ray and
Joshua start out in conflict. Ray cannot believe anyone could miss a late-afternoon
funeral. Joshua doesn’t really want constructive criticism. Ray wants Josh’s
help, but feels like she has to manage the feelings of the older white man. Josh
isn’t up for deconstructing the racial politics of the moment. Slowly, though,
they let their guards down and open up to each other. Josh isn’t just Betty’s
CFO; he’s her son. Ray wonders if their relationship was oedipal and Josh assures
her it was more like Hamlet and Gertrude, but Ray says she doesn’t understand
the reference.
The opening
scene of Megan Wilding’s GAME. SET. MATCH. is hilarious, while also
sinking its teeth into gender politics and race and modern relationships. The
writing is sharp and the repartee between Wilding as Ray and Rick Davies as
Josh is utterly compelling. If this was just a whip smart romantic comedy that
negotiated its way through age difference, racial dynamics and the predatory
nature of world-class tennis, it would have been utterly delightful. Wilding
and Davies have a fiery chemistry early on that will serve them well throughout.
But it’s
not just a romantic comedy, as the trigger warnings make clear. If you have avoided
those and any other commentary before seeing the show, you will be surprised
where all of this goes. I hesitate to say too much.
Wilding’s
script is thrilling in the way a good tennis match can be. The back and forth
between the two characters transfixes just as a marathon rally can. When one
character sends an observation or a laugh-line flying, it has as much chance of
landing well or going completely out of bounds. And yet, the thing I loved about
the writing isn’t that it’s astonishing and sometimes shocking, it’s that it
never loses sight of truth.
There’s
something deeply personal in here about trauma in the micro and the macro that
is honest and captivating. It’s a meet-cute in extremis. It’s two people
representing the colonised and the coloniser. And every twist and turn is subtly
telegraphed throughout. When a narrative is built on reveals and surprises,
sometimes that papers over the cracks of reality. Wilding’s play never cheats
and never lies to us.
Isla Shaw’s
modular set plays with forced perspective, that resonates with the themes of
the text. It leans more toward realism, in a way that we need to ground the
story. But it’s off-kilter. Her costumes put the characters in stark contrast
to begin with, but as the play progresses, changes in scenery and attire help
to unpick the complicated relationship.
Amelia
Lever-Davidson’s lighting is dynamic, from the stark white overhead lights post-wake,
through a seedy club to, well, that would be telling. Rainbow Chan’s sound
design is wonderfully layered, planting sign posts to where the show is headed
and where it ends up. Some bird song in the opening scenes is echoed
beautifully in the closing moments.
Director
Jessica Arthur finds a way for the show as a whole to be surprising, while also
inevitable. That feels like a truism: a satisfying end is one that’s set up but
also that you don’t see coming. Arthur helps to guide the audience. I
know some people were completely thrown by the change in tone and dramatic
landscape, but for me GAME. SET. MATCH. is teaching the audience how to
watch and decipher it as it goes along.
Wilding and
Davies are extraordinary together, brilliantly supporting each other during this
classic battle of the sexes. The pair are equally adept at broad comedy and
searing drama and an odd mix of the two that this show delights in. Shout out
to Intimacy Coordinator Amy Cater, whose work is mostly unsung, always
important and utterly essential in a show like this.
This play
will be one of the most memorable you see in a theatre anywhere
this year. Thank you to the Malthouse for programming it. Thank you to Megan
Wilding for speaking your truth.
GAME.
SET. MATCH. is a
story that begins long ago and may be never-ending. It’s delicious and tricky. It's phenomenal.
Quiet please, the game is on until May 23
Photos: Gianna Rizzo
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