FRINGE FEST: TEAM OF THE DECADE PLAYS FAIR
I often returned from sports lesson bloodied and bruised, I was a frail and light kid with too much energy and not enough power. Though physical prowess has since eluded me, and I haven't had a sports lesson in 4 years, the sportsmanship learnt from key advisors and mentors in my life remains an extremely powerful and important way of showcasing decency and acceptance in everyday life.
Appearing amongst the unique and bizarre at Fringe Festival 2019 is Team of the Decade; a walkabout/runabout show hailing from London, presented by Will Dickie (no stranger to theatre), now transplanted to the streets of Perth. The show begins at The Blue Room Theatre, and ends amongst the parks of Northbridge.
Team of the Decade is an autobiographical street performance wherein a group of people run, walk and jog along with their newly acquainted mentor, Coach, who offers a supportive and optomistic approach to sportmanship and effort. Coach, and some other team players, treat you to fables of role models and the importance of sportmanship, all whilst keeping your blood pumping. A simple run in the park becomes a team building exercise, and a brisk jog reminds you to notice the little things.
The uniqueness of walkabout shows stems from the strange encounters and experiences; in this instance, a standoff with a fully-kitted player, who appear out of the blue and engages you in a twisting and tangling scene of mental and physical combatants. The soaring player forces you, and fellow teammates, to link arms and support him up as he's hurled around (as players are in contact sports), a delicate balancing act between strangers to keep another stranger up and in fighting form.
Coach implores you to try your hardest but will never push you beyond your abilities or comfort, he's supportive and charming (saying hello to every stranger you pass on your jogs and walks). Coach impersonifies the best of sportsmanship, he is perhaps the sports teacher we all needed in the bloodied and bruised days of childhood.
As twilight mingles on the park, and the orange streetlights cape the starscape, the show runs to a close. Huddled together with strangers arm in arm around a suprisingly beautiful totem, you listen and learn the finer points of Coach & Player’s honour, the importance of role models, and the sonder experiences of teamwork.
Moonlight glistens and cobblestone kicks on the walk back to town, void of Coach and Player physically, their ideas and poignancy continue to swirl in your blood. You are left with only your teammates. They remain strangers whom who you have spent the last hour, running, dodging and huddling with, a certain connection has been made, even if you're unaware of it. A conversation sparked from the tombless night, and the brisk walk home became a leisurely walk to town with a group of teammates, each streetlight shining above us like the trophies we'd won for ourselves that night.
3.5/5
Team of the Decade is performing at the Blue Room Theatre until Sunday 16th Feb
