Contest

The game slows. It’s a dance. A memory, a dream, the body remembers. Muscles tense and release, bones anticipate the landing after the leap we can do this in our sleep.

We Play on.

When a new player, Cass, joins a suburban netball team, the fragile balance of the group shifts. She sees what others cannot or will not, and her truths, quietly spoken, ripple through the team. Secrets, unspoken grievances, and long-held frustrations rise to the surface, turning every pass, pivot, and collision into a reckoning.

Set entirely on the netball court, Contest, written by Australian playwright Emilie Collyer and produced by Space Jump Theatre Company, immerses women of every age, shape, size, and ability in a world governed by rules, expectation, and relentless pressure. Bodies move side by side, sweating, enduring, testing limits. The game becomes a powerful metaphor for resilience, courage, and endurance, both on and off the court, capturing the subtle, fierce, and unrelenting ways women persist.

Blending stylised movement, poetic dialogue, and raw physicality, Contest is a bold, immersive, and unforgettable story of connection, rivalry, and the extraordinary endurance of women. Every moment on the court resonates with intensity, intimacy, and the unflinching reality of human emotion. 

But what still aches after the whistle blows?

Cast (alphabetical)

·       GS: Melissa Jones

·       GA: Willa King

·       C: Suz Mawer

·       GD: Emma Monk

·       WA: Lana Morgan

Creative Team

·      Production Company: Space Jump Theatre Company

·      Playwright: Emilie Collyer

·      Producer: Kirsty Semaan 

·      Director: Kirsty Semaan

·      Movement Director: Amelia Pawsey

·      Lighting Design: Theo Carroll

·      Composer/Sound Design: Charlotte Leamon 

·      Set/Props Design & Construction: Jason Lowe

·      Production & Movement Assistant: Danette Potgieter

·      Promotional Videography: Yarno Rolling

·      Promotional Photography: SPbyKS

An approx running time: 75 mins

Content Warning:

This work contains strong language and references to sexual content, domestic violence, suicide, and mental health challenges.

Sensory Warning:

The performance includes the use of theatrical haze and loud noise.