Trophy Boys Review (Arts Centre, Melbourne)
Summary: Set in a private high school one hour before the Year 12 Debating Tournament finale, this black comedy tackles themes of privilege, toxic masculinity, and misogyny. It’s a sharp, biting satire that is absolutely not to be missed.
5
Brilliant
Since 2022, the new play Trophy Boys has made waves in the Australian theatre scene. Having two sold-out seasons in Melbourne, the show is back at the prestigious Arts Centre for a quick run of performances from July 16th – 21st.
Written by and starring Emmanuelle Mattana, with direction from Marni Mount, this black comedy tackles themes of privilege, toxic masculinity, and misogyny. Set in a private high school, the play follows four boys who are about to go on stage for their Year 12 Debating Tournament finale. They have one hour to prep, and over the course of that hour, we see them come up with arguments for their debating topic… “Feminism Has Failed Women”. These boys are on the affirmative team, and they love women, so how are they going to handle such a difficult topic?
Entirely performed in drag by a female and non-binary cast, Trophy Boys is an absolute joy to watch. We have Leigh Lule as David, who isn’t really even on the team. Along with Gaby Seow as Scott, these two actors are perfectly cast and get some of the most memorable moments of the show. Fran Sweeney Nash plays Jared, who has a girlfriend. They handle this character with finesse, always there to break any tension with a quick joke, yet never falling too far into parody. Writer Emmanuelle Mattana shines as Owen, the nerdier of the four. She has quite a few wordy yet quickly delivered monologues in this show, and they handle them all perfectly.
The writing is sharp, hilarious, powerful, and contains an arsenal of jokes that never lets up over the 70-minute-long duration of the play. I almost lost my voice after seeing this show because of how often I was laughing. But it isn’t just funny, this show also has a lot to say about the world that our next generations of leaders are growing up in. There are so many moments in this show where the audience gasped at a reveal or cringed at a joke one of the boys makes that might not actually be just a joke anymore.
So if you’re looking for a show to see this week, let me recommend Trophy Boys. It’s a sharp, biting satire that is absolutely not to be missed.
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