Have you ever loved something so much that you thought you might have magical powers because of it? Audrey, the 11-year-old star of All the Fraudulent Horse Girls, has. She loves horses so much she can telepathically communicate with every other horse girl in the world. So of course, she loves the Saddle Club, and of course, she’d do anything to get a horse and make a friend who loves horses just like her.
Michael Louis Kennedy lovingly writes Audrey’s (true-ish) story with a wicked sense of humour, dragging you along with her fast-paced monologuing and childish sidebars. Audrey takes three different forms: played in turn by Shirong Wu (White Pearl), Janet Anderson (winner of Best Performance in a Play in our recent Time Out Arts and Culture Awards), and Caitlin A. Kearney. Director Jess Arthur (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The Dictionary of Lost Words) places all the Audreys all over the stage, having various characters run and peek out of the stage curtains with the speed and inaccuracy of all your favourite ten- to 12-year-olds. All her forms are equally quirky and hilarious, and Wu’s embodiment of an 11-year-old weirdo is an absolute hoot, all the way down to her frantic hand gestures. Each performer brings a great sense of pace to Kennedy’s words, carrying simple, detailed props to suggest different characters and moods.
Set and costumes by Paris Bell (The Other End of the Afternoon and Chimerica at the New Theatre) are similarly simple and effective: the stage is black, backed by a haphazardly hung black curtain. All of the Audreys are dressed in purple, mint, denim and brown cowboy boots, and they are linked to their time and place through a clever use of denim jacket decals and fringes.
Madeleine Picard’s (Shitty, The Weekend) sound design paired with Emma Van Veen similarly hints at different worlds and places – with swelling strings and reddening floor lights suggesting a heightened drama behind Audrey’s wild eyes, then snapping to bright white for a new scene and character. All of these technical elements come together with the performers to create a well-oiled laughter machine, perfectly balanced with more tender moments and hints of tween angst that make the show approachable and enjoyable to witness.
While the play might not be as profound as its final scenes suggest, it’s a fantastic, silly and sometimes poignant adventure that tickles all the right places. Great comic performances, a little bit of self-aware surrealness, and a not-so-subtle queer subtext make for a tight 60 minutes of fun that’s the perfect start to Sydney Fringe, and the Old Fitz’s New Works Festival.
Get down to the Fitz for some horse girls (running until September 14), and then book in for any of their program of five other plays, 12 readings and more to be announced. You can purchase a New Works Festival Season Pass and see all six plays for $34 each – and carry the well-earned title of thriftiest patron of the arts.
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