FIERCE To Play At The Old Fitz Theatre

What if a woman was drafted in the men's AFL?

This is the provocative question at the heart of Jane e Thompson's play FIERCE which tracks the career of Suzie Flack, an extraordinarily talented Australian Rules Football player who achieves her lifelong dream of being drafted to play alongside her male counterparts in the AFL. This raw but imaginative play explores the impact of this success on Flack and on her family, her relationships, her team and the sport as a whole.

Thompson says:

"I wanted to pit Suzie Flack against the men, because we are pitted against men. This work is not a case for women competing against men in sport; rather it seeks to reposition our view - not of what's possible, but what's imaginable. Flack is a female protagonist who lives outside binary gender stereotyping, who is subject not object, who lives through her body as a professional footballer playing with the men. She wants acceptance and respect, not as a woman but as a human. This comes at a significant cost."

"While the conceit of FIERCE is an act of imaginative gumption," adds director Janine Watson, "the development of character is tethered to absolute reality creating a journey for the audience that is at once brutal, sad, offensive and funny."

Sport, gender and theatre come head-to-head in FIERCE, an explosive, not-to-be-missed production.

FIERCE by Jane e Thompson20 March-13 April 2019 Old Fitz Theatre.