Theatre Studies / Arts
Trophy Boys Excursion
On the 17th of July, 2024, two Unit 3/4 VCE Theatre Studies students joined the Year 9 cohort on a trip to see the play 'Trophy Boys' by Emmanuelle Mattana, being performed at the Melbourne Arts Centre.
The play, including a short question and answer section with the cast and director, proved to be an invaluable learning experience into what it takes to put a script onto the stage.
The show itself featured a static set and four female and non-binary actors who would portray privileged private school boys who were tasked with the affirmative side of a grand final debate on the topic of "Feminism has Failed Women". The hilarious and intuitive script offered a creative commentary on the contemporary issues that the modern patriarchal society poses, focusing on the apparent widespread acceptance of a misogynistic attitude in young boys.
The show borrowed inspiration from a multitude of theatre styles featuring conventions of drag performance, drama, realism and some Brechtian theatrical practices which produced a thought-provoking and eclectic viewing experience.
An arguably more important aspect of the excursion, however, was the Q&A afterwards. The cast and director of the show sat for 20 minutes to answer questions about the thought behind certain acting and design choices, offering opportunities for Theatre Studies students to gain better insight into the production process for their exams and to express their personal curiosity with questions of their own.
An awareness of theatrical styles and design elements, elevated an already highly entertaining viewing experience to a new level which offered a more sophisticated and complete appreciation of the performance.
By Regina Brown, Year 12
After reaching the Melbourne Arts Centre and getting signed off at 11 a.m., we spent the first half of our day exploring historic landmarks and getting used to independently navigating around the place. All the landmarks we looked at were in relation to the city's colonial and Indigenous history, which was a perfect way to commemorate NAIDOC week! For instance, my friends and I visited the Koorie Heritage Trust and Birrarung Marr where we took lots of pictures for our upcoming visual essay.
Additionally, we had a few spare moments to indulge in other (non-academic) things such as eating, drinking and window shopping. It was also an opportunity to bond with friends and have a good time making memories with them. The real highlight of the day, though, was watching 'Trophy Boys’.
A play based on year 12 debating and elite private school boys, Emanuelle Mattana's hilarious yet confronting comedy, 'Trophy Boys’, gave us a good laugh while also unpacking issues of toxic masculinity.
The play centres around four boys (played by non-male actors) from a fictional prestigious school, St. Imperium, who are pumped up and ready to annihilate their sister school in the debating grand finals! Yeaaahhhh! That is, until they discover their topic is "feminism has failed women". Not only that, but they must argue the affirmative.
Watching the boys struggle with the topic was riveting, deliciously funny and at times confronting with how the play brought up complex ideas. All of us thoroughly enjoyed the performance. It made us laugh throughout but also made us pause and think. And that's what's incredibly valuable about our theatre experience: unlike reading a book or watching a film, what was happening before us was something unique; it couldn't be repeated in its exact form again.
It had a layer of realism to it which made the actors on stage feel more like actual high school boys and the issues they were trying to satirise more tangible. You had this feeling of wanting to do something and to change things as the story unfolded.
Watching the performance live allowed us to actively engage with what was being presented and to critically think about what each character was saying, right there in the moment. After all, there's no pausing or rewinding during a play so you really have to learn to pay attention! In the Q&A section at the end (which was fantastic, as the cast were open to and ready to answer questions), the cast and crew spoke to us about how the play has evolved over the years, that what we were seeing was one of many iterations of it.
They also spoke about the ways they made very subtle stylistic choices to the characters and set in order to create the atmosphere. This was incredibly useful to know as in the future years, analysing plays is part of VCE English and having an appreciation of theatre is a great thing to have if you'd like to do well in the subject. After all, as one of Mr Ninis' students once wisely said, "Theatre is just English in 3D”, and this excursion was something which didn't just entertain us but also prepared us for years to come.
By Fiona Dubey, Year 9
