‘Strong Is The New Pretty’: A Wonderfully Energetic Celebration Of The AFLW

A delightfully kinetic celebration of the women who made the AFLW a reality, Strong is the New Pretty is an extremely enjoyable piece of new Australian theatre from playwright Suzier Miller and director Sarah Giles. It’s a show that uses historical imagination as its engine to be an utterly delightful celebration of femininity and willpower.

Through a somewhat fictionalised lens, Strong is the New Pretty tells the story of the AFLW from its inception through to its inaugural season. Although many names are changed and some roles are fictionalised, the story it tells is engaging, although potentially a bit abridged if you don’t know much about this league, AFL, or even sports in general.

Although told through a sporting lens, it’s ultimately a story about the importance of perseverance and unity while implementing change at an institutional level, which gives Strong is the New Pretty a resonance beyond its specific subject matter. Across its short runtime, it perfectly captures the amount blood, sweat and tears that went into creating the AFLW, as well as the sheer joy of the women who made it happen.

Rather appropriate for a show about a sport, this is an exceptionally physical piece of theatre. It might appear simple at first, but the stage becomes a place of vibrant expression in Strong is the New Pretty thanks to the exceptional cast and judicious deployment of multimedia – in particular with the use of a large screen that communicates key details in a restrained, oft-cheeky way.

Strong is the New Pretty is terrifically directed, acted and told

The narrative is largely anchored by three women – the AFL’s first female commissioner, a (fictional) head of football development, and a tough cop turned coach for the Adelaide Crows. Lucy Bell, Tara Morice and Amber McMahon are all individually excellent, though the short runtime makes it easy to feel the strain in trying to balance all three of these characters.

I was particularly fond of McMahon’s coach Bev (presumably based on the real-life Bec Goddard) out of this trinity, whose performance feels exceedingly natural and effortlessly vivacious. The show draws focus most effectively when her efforts to coach take centre stage, particularly because this portion of the show most heavily features the wider cast and the most creative physicality.

Almost all the women in this show get a chance to shine at some point. The blossoming sisterhood between the characters of Edyll and Nyasha Ogden’s characters was genuinely moving to me, while Amy Hack’s well-established penchant for comedy of both the physical and written variety is deployed wonderfully here (as always).

It’s a show that’s quite frenetic, and has a particularly excellent ending that initially smooths over some of the less apparent flaws. Like any biopic, learning the extent to which it’s fictionalised might take some wind out of the sails, and it’s maybe somewhat clear the show doesn’t have too much more fuel left in the tank as the curtains draw.

Alas, it does little to curb the sheer enjoyment factor that Strong is the New Pretty is able to provide. It’s a terrifically directed, acted and told piece of theatre – and for that reason alone, it’s a show well worth seeing.

Strong is the New Pretty is playing now at the Sydney Opera House.