Article written by Breanna Smith.
The Longest Minute. A play about football. I am going to admit straight away football is not my thing. When booking my ticket, I knew the show was about football; mainly around the Cowboys teams and a girl who grow up alongside them. This wasn’t the play for me. But I'd thought I'd give it a go. So, I finished up at work on Monday evening and headed to the Cremorne Theatre at QPAC, not sure what to expect. And it was amazing.
When walking in to take our seat you see the stage is a shallow one not too deep. The entire stage is covered in fake grass with a raised box on either side of the stage with stadium lights set above, the boxes were used through the play as staging props, a divider for off stage costume changes and bench for actors when not on the field. In the middle of the stage is a raised area of a hill used for many scenes throughout the story. But my favourite part of the set is the score board. Even though the location where each scene takes place it would not look the same it, in reality, is clear where the scene is set due the scoreboard highlighting which location we are in and what year it is as the story goes back and forth along the journey of Jess, the lead, and her beloved Cowboys. It is a fantastic piece of set design leading to a clear understanding of when and where we are and what is happening with the game when commentary is played for those not used to understanding it. All three of us in the crowd.
After walking into the theatre, the show starts causally; the cast comes out from both the stage and the crowd each bringing an esky in Cowboys colours adding to the easy-going atmosphere. There’s a large amount of crowd interaction before the show “starts” leading to viewers seeing the cast as real people they know telling us a story. This is helped by the cast recognising people from the crowd and acknowledging them so even though they are characters they are real people.
The story then starts as the cast all slamming their esky and the lights level thought the audience with a boom letting us know the big event is on. The cast is lined staring at the big screen in shock and aware as the commentary goes through the last minutes of the 2015 NRL Grand Final. Those watching on stage move in perfect timing to the announcement, reminding me of anime characters as they move in sync before freezing in place. Jess soon breaks the scene telling us how it’s just not going to work out for the team and we soon go back to them telling us the story of Jess and the story of the Cowboys, both growing up in Townsville and the truth of living there. Like how blunt everyone is.
There is a fair bit of swearing in the play. Am I surprised? No. If you have ever lived up north you know this is what it is like day to day up North. People swear and are blunt. Now this being shown to a Brisbane audience this brought a lot of laughs as it is not common in theatre in QPAC. The last show I saw at QPAC when they said "f**k" had the sound of a drum set falling over on top of it. But swearing brings truth to the story and reflects the people it is about truthfully.
The play goes on, showing the history of the club and of Jess’s family. We learn a lot about the place and the people who live there. And it is clear they’re not all perfect. Throughout the play we see how causally racism can destroy a happy day. Jess’s mum is Anglo-Australian, and her dad is Indigenous and both her and her brother, Laurie takes after her dad. We see people pointing this out many times throughout the play in degrading ways. When she bumped into a man at the football field he complains that she doesn't care when she bumped into him, even after she apologises to him, and mutters that the "whole tribe would be here in a minute." It’s moments like this that show the everyday racism and how it can affect a person slowly but surely making the feel worst.
In these moments it makes us feel bad for Jess and makes us see in a simple way how thoughtless words hurt. We also see the struggle within the family about being "Real Black". Jess's dad Frank has not been back to his hometown of Cloncurry since he left as a young man. We later learn this is because when heading back to see his sick mother, after a football game but she died before he made it to town, so he feels shame and so hasn't been back even with his Uncle Gordon prompting him to come to visit. Unlike Jess and her dad who’s only hobby is NRL, Laurie enjoys visiting his family in Cloncurry and taking part in more traditional activities leading to conflict with his father who see his time being wasted there as he should focus more on football as he has been scouted but his heart is just not there. His heart is with his family’s tradition and history in Cloncurry. This leads to conflict between him and his father, as Frank has turned his back on that way of life and thinks Laurie should too, to focus on football and focus on the opportunities he has. While Laurie chose to turn away from them having never wanted to have played professional but just for the fun of the game. After his father gives him this ultimatum of stay and play or leave for good and not come back, Laurie said goodbye to his mother and sister and leaves home then and there. This leads into the final act which I will admit left me in tears.
While I won’t spoil the final act as I do recommend you see this show yourselves I do want to talk about one more thing.
One part of the play which I connected more than I thought I would is Jess and her love of football. This is the main story throughout the play Jess and her passion for football and her wanting a second of attention to show her skill and passion for the game. She is a girl who is so passionate for the game and not just watching but playing and making herself better and when she learns there is a women's football team, the Jillaroos, she makes it her goal to play on their team. She fights so hard to prove herself so that she can fit in with the boys and play better than they can. And she does. It is admitted by the coaches and when next to Laurie we see she cares more and shows a bit more skill even though she is younger. But she is overlooked because she is a girl. She has to try twice as hard to be seen as half as good. I don't give a damn about football, but this broke my heart. This play is real. She's overlooked and while fighting to be better, to be seen in her last year in mixed club footie, as her dad asks why she's hasn't quit already and as she tries to prove herself she is hurt badly and out for the rest of the season with no hope of playing again or making the Jillaroos, as she can't play once she's 13 due to there being not mixed comp or women's.
She gets real down but after her mum talks to her and tells her there is talk of making a women’s comp which she can play in when she is older, she makes new goals play touch in the meantime (not real football, according to Jess) and works hard and makes it onto the team. She keeps working hard and gets to play on the women's NRL team as one of the fastest and can now aim for the Jillaroos. But she's still overlooked. As she tries to tell her parents exciting news the fight mentioned above happens and we don't find out the news till she only has an empty room to speak to. She got picked for a Jillaroos' training camp. She is living the dream her dad wants for his son and is happy and proud to be doing so and yet she is still overlooked and doesn't count. She puts so much in, but it doesn't count and is not of note. This broke my heart. And I saw the truth in it. In other girls, in me in Scouts, I saw it and connected so strongly. Maybe I am a baby, but it had me in tears.
I think the reason I liked this story so much is the truth to in it. The truth of family, the truth of people from the bush and the truth of skill levels depending on who you are. I think these truths are what make the story great as well as the presentation of it. The ability to pause for a second to focus on important parts or simply parts that add to a good story. All the parts add to a heartfelt story and wonderful performance.
5 Stars out of 5 Stars
The Longest Minute Performance Dates
26th May to the 23rd June at the Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
And the 28th of June at the Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton
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