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| Hoke's Bluff at Arts House |
I don’t watch sport very often, but when I do, I often think
of it as a kind of theatrical event. There’s drama on the field, on the court
and on the ice. There’s a crowd invested in every movement and every shot at goal.
Athletes are trying to give the best performances of their career every time
they appear in front of their audience and fans.
Sporting heroism is at the heart of Hoke’s Bluff by British performance group, Action Hero, currently
in residence at Arts House in North Melbourne. They’ve transformed the main
room of the Town Hall into a stadium with bleachers and a court that resembles
a basketball court, but the sport we cheer could be anything.
There’s a mascot and a cheerleader. There’s an umpire and a
coach. And sportsmen going through tough training regimes, assaulted by a
torrent of clichés and inspirational quotes. Small Town USA telling its young
men that they can be the greatest; their young women cheering from the
sidelines.
The repetition of the script, devised by performers Gemma
Paintin, James Stenhouse and Laura Dennequin, is in turns energetic and trying.
The writing fixates on certain turns of phrase and then tries out a myriad of
reconfigurations. Small town kids are dreaming about the future, but the rote
commands of coaches and teammates and friends almost guarantee they will go
nowhere.
The sheer implausibility of becoming a professional athlete
never enters their mind; they strive to achieve and escape their mundane
existence.
The trouble with Hoke’s
Bluff is that it’s stuck in this routine and we don’t learn much about the
central characters. They are stuck on the treadmill and the audience is right
alongside; it’s not enough we are occasionally brought into the action by
feeling like we’re part of the team or the roaring crowd, we must care about
who wins and who loses.
We were encouraged to cheer, like we might at a sporting
event, but not much in the show itself left me wanting to applaud these
writer/actor/athletes. Not even for their awesome physicality and commitment.
Hoke’s Bluff is oncourt until Saturday night only. Action Hero is at Arts Centre this week and
next with two other shows.
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