Written by Suzie Miller. World Premiere. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Sydney Theatre Company. 22 Oct – 12 Dec, 2026.
Don’t worry! You don’t need to know a thing about AFL or AFLW, or sport in general, to enjoy Strong is the New Pretty. You don’t even need to know about sexism because you’ll get presented with a lot of it in this tale of the birth of the AFLW (the premier women’s football league). Lightly fictionalised and tidied up into a punchy one-act play. You’ll laugh, you’ll cheer, you’ll be happy we solved sexism (and racism) in sport once and for all! Yay us!
Chronicling the formation of the AFLW, Susie Miller’s new play pulls together multiple stories to form a tapestry of shockingly recent struggles in women’s sport. You may naively think this is a tale of gender inequality from the 70s or 80s, but no, this is very recent history, barely 10 years old. And maybe that goes some way to explain why Strong is the New Pretty is entertaining but ultimately a bit unsatisfying.
Like Miller’s STC-saving hit RBG: Of Many, One, Strong is the New Pretty lays out the facts succinctly through narration. It’s didactic, but Miller’s skill is writing exposition that is full of character and still manages to entertain while it does a lot of heavy lifting. The difference this time is the more diffuse nature of the story – this is the tale of multiple women all doing their bit to push the cause along, rather than a central figure we can follow.
The closest the story has to “leading” performances are Lucy Bell’s Alison Newtown (a fictional replacement for the real life Sam Mostyn), the AFL’s first female commissioner, and Tara Morice’s Jane Hooper, the AFL’s fictional first female football development manager, but neither truly takes centre stage as an emotional core to the play. The show’s emotional beats come in the short stories of the players in the Adelaide Crows, and their coach played by Amber McMahon.
This is a fun watch. Director Sarah Giles wisely leans into the comedy and it gives the material life. The ensemble is stacked with comedy talent like Amy Hack, Contessa Treffone and Amy Ingram, whose timing keeps the moments bubbling along. Treffone especially is absolutely milking the material, and having a blast – and so are we.
But this is, in fact, two sports plays in one. There’s the story of the AFLW being born, struggling itself free from the negligence of the men in charge and the sexism rife in Australian life and sport. That’s a corporate tale of fighting against the system, but in the end, there is very little fight to be found – more like indifference and inertia. Once the men in charge are defeated (off stage), the play pivots to supporting a single team, the Adelaide Crows, as they play against the other AFLW teams. Here we encounter the tropes of any sporting narrative – can our scrappy team of underdogs win? But of course, ALL the teams are scrappy underdogs… they’re ALL out to prove the game deserves to exist facing off against the sexist, corporate overlords of the AFL. Why are we championing this one team to win against any other? So the tension feels false.
This all leads to an engaging, but only partially satisfying narrative. With no real villain to beat (the AFL rolls over as soon as there is money to be made) and no real hero to back (every player is a hero, so there’s nobody to single out), we’re left in an emotionally unsatisfying hinterland of flashing colours and lights, but no actual plot. As the Big S said, it’s “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
Compared to other sport-related plays we’ve had recently, Strong is the New Pretty is strangely emotionless. The beats are there, in the Crows players’ stories, but they never build into anything triumphant. Madelaine Nunn’s W (seen at The Old Fitz) placed us in the lives of the AFLW players, looking at their pressure to perform and the constant struggle to prove their worth (both shows share performer Edyll who is terrific in both plays). The National Theatre’s Dear England (seen here via NT Live) managed to translate Gareth Southgate’s tenure as England manager into compelling drama. In comparison Strong is the New Pretty suffers from being all tell, and no show. Like hearing a good anecdote, instead of being in the moment itself.
Strong is the New Pretty comes off as a simple hagiography for the sport and doesn’t make a case for anything larger. It’s good, it’s entertaining and well made – and if you’re an AFLW supporter you’ll be in heaven – but for me, a man with absolutely no sporting bones in my body, it was simply a nice night at the theatre.
Leave a Reply