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Fringe Review: The Sheds

The Sheds

The star player of an AFL team comes out as gay, assuming everyone will readily accept the news of his sexuality.


The ShedsPresented by James Cunningham
Reviewed 18 February 2014

Darren Anderson (Patrick Chirico) is a player in the Fitzroy Fighters AFL team who ‘comes out’ to his team mates, the press and his fans.

It’s a scenario that’s becoming increasingly common in professional sports, allowing for a potentially interesting, confrontational drama. Sadly however, writer/director James Cunningham’s The Sheds falls short of any potential and disappoints on all fronts.

The script skims over the issue of homosexuality and has everyone accept Darren’s coming out far too easily. Instead, it gets bogged down with a sub-plot involving Jimmy Davis (Andii Mulders), an ex-school mate of Anderson’s and now a member of the football team. Davis comes from a troubled childhood and holds Anderson’s revelation responsible for the guilt he feels for holding in his own secret.

The direction never allows Chirico, Mulders nor Ludwik Exposto as team captain Liam Greenwood, to rise above more than a mere adequate level of acting. Cunningham seems to have opted for clichéd melodrama from the school of ‘shout and throw things to show anger; make the voice almost inaudible to show calmness; and gesticulate to demonstrate everything’.

Overall, this shed would probably do better remaining locked.

Reviewed by Brian Godfrey

Venue: Bakehouse Theatre, 255 Angas Street, Adelaide
Season: 18-22 February 2014
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $25.00 – $30.00
Bookings: Book through FringeTix online or phone 1300 621 255

 

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