Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Previews of Suzie Miller’s latest show have been an entirely new experience for the acclaimed Australian playwright – audiences have left the theatre with smiles on their faces.
Miller is known internationally for her hard-hitting plays: award-winning hits Inter Alia and Prima Facie both dealt with sexual assault, and even RBG: Of Many, One, the story of US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, had audiences with tears in their eyes.
People usually leave her shows looking like they’ve been slapped in the face, Miller told AAP, but the response to Strong is the New Pretty has so far been very different, with audiences on a high.
“This must be what it’s like when you write theatre that feels good,” she said.
Miller describes Strong is the New Pretty as her state-of-the-nation play told through the lens of AFLW, and the show has its world premiere on Friday as a centrepiece of the 2026 Brisbane Festival.
The tale follows underdogs the Adelaide Crows through the AFLW inaugural 2017 season – the sport’s very first professional women’s league in 150 years of Australian Rules football.
“It’s my love letter to Australian women, because I feel like they’ve just been working so hard behind the scenes for so long to try and make a difference,” she said.
It comes during yet another moment of reckoning for the AFL, as police investigate allegations of sexual assault after a Sydney Swans post-match party in August.
A story that celebrates the success and culture of the women’s league could offer some hope for many fans despairing at entitlement and sexism in the men’s game.
The players aren’t on multimillion-dollar contracts, they have to juggle families and careers outside football – and they aren’t hurting anyone, said Miller pointedly.
A 2026 tour of Strong is the New Pretty will take in Brisbane, Canberra, Geelong, and Sydney, and in 2027 it will travel to the AFL heartlands of Melbourne and Adelaide, as well as Perth and the latest AFL franchise city, Hobart.
There are also talks with venues in the UK, Canada and the US, following Miller’s previous successes in the West End and on Broadway.
The script was originally commissioned by producer and Miller’s longtime friend Trish Wadley, following the no vote in the 2023 Voice referendum.
“We had this deep discussion about Australian identity, and I said I think it’s time for you to write a state of the nation play, you’ve got that international profile now, and people want to hear what you’ve got to say,” Wadley told AAP.
Broadly speaking, Miller sees a need to re-think the typically Australian notion of a fair go, and who that really applies to.
“I do think it’s a wonderful mantra, but we’ve allowed it to be a bit of a boys’ conversation, it’s not about all Australians, it’s just about white male Australians,” she said.
Growing up in Melbourne, her extended family were keen South Melbourne and then Sydney Swans supporters, but Miller ignored the AFL in protest because there were no girls involved.
In the crowd for the first AFLW grand final on the Gold Coast, Miller realised she was not just watching a football match, she was witnessing generational change.
More recently, watching an under nines girls’ game, she noticed that not only were the players running and tackling, their brothers were cheering from the sidelines.
“I just thought, this is a really great way of inviting equality in early … maybe long-term, it will decrease the levels of disrespect and violence against women.”
Strong is the New Pretty is directed by Sarah Giles with a cast including Lucy Bell, Amy Hack and Tara Morice.
Brisbane Festival runs from Friday till September 26.
AAP travelled to Brisbane with the assistance of Brisbane Festival.
