Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW)

Champions Oct 11 – 26, 2024
Playwright: Isabella McDermott
Director: Bali Padda
Cast: Cat Dominguez, Talitha Parker, Lincoln Vickery, Bayley Prendegast
Images by Patrick Phillips

Fuccbois: Live In Concert Oct 11 – 26, 2024
Book, Music and Lyrics: Bridie Connell
Director: Jessica Fallico
Cast: Gabbi Bolt, Bridie Connell, Orya Golgowsky, Clara Harrison, Megan Walshe 
Images by Leanne Ansell

Theatre review
The two stories in part 3 of the Old Fitz Theatre’s New Works Festival involve separate groups of four artists and their respective relationships with integrity. Isabella McDermott’s sophisticated Champions looks at the effect of a $50,000 prize, when art becomes a competitive sport. In Bridie Connell’s rambunctious Fuccbois: Live in Concert, it is the competitive alpha male that adopts the art of performance to satisfy his narcissism. 

A contemplative work, Champions is directed by Bali Padda who brings commendable sensitivity to a play brimming with engaging nuance. For Fuccbois, it is Jessica Fallico’s mischievous direction of raucous drag kings that leaves an impression. There is a slight deficiency in terms of dramatic escalation over the duration of both shows, but Padda and Fallico certainly prove themselves accomplished, albeit in wildly different styles.

A simple set design by Elle Fitzgerald converts the space to allow for greater versatility. Tim Hope’s lights are marvellously dynamic for Fuccbois but are perhaps overly sombre in Champions. Costumes by Rita Naidu for Champions and Lily Moody for Fuccbois are all similarly appropriate for each of the characters we encounter. Sound design by Prema Yin for Champions is particularly noteworthy, intricate in approach and effective with the vigour it provides.

The cast for Champions is very strong; Cat Dominguez, Talitha Parker, Lincoln Vickery and Bayley Prendegast play visual artists negotiating a suddenly intensified work environment, remarkable for the distinct qualities they deliver, as well as a sense of authenticity they imbue in the storytelling. For the faux arena concert of Fuccbois, Gabbi Bolt, Bridie Connell, Orya Golgowsky, Clara Harrison and Megan Walshe manufacture an electric atmosphere, gratifying with their pointed commentary on commodified masculinity, but unfortunately lacking in crispness with their highly stylised presentation.

Even when art loses all of its truthfulness, when having to accommodate all manner of economic considerations, it can still reveal something worthwhile, if only we commit to its decipherment. Bad art however is determined to discourage analysis, and have us accept its deceptive surface. In other words, bad art trades in obfuscation and lies. No person can claim to be insusceptible to artful trickery, but it is in the willingness to talk to one another, that we can discover bigger truths, about the messages we are being sold. 

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