Year 10 Drama Excursion

This month, Year 10 Drama students travelled to Belvoir St Theatre to watch a new Australian play, Lose to Win, as part of their curriculum studies in Theatre Criticism. After watching the production, students composed and formatted their own reviews analysing and evaluating the choices made by the director, designers, playwright and performers, thereby communicating the merits of the production to a wider audience, as well as developing and deepening their understanding of the art of theatre-making. 

Well done Year 10.

Mr Z Pincini
Drama and English Teacher

Mandela Mathia Strikes the Ball Home
A review of Lose to Win – Belvoir Theatre

Mandela Mathia has teamed up with director Jessica Arthur, encapsulating the enthralling autobiography of his journey as a young boy from South Sudan finding his way on the Belvoir stage in Australia. It’s a heartwarming tear-jerker that shows us how fortunate we are.

When watching Mathia in action, you can’t help feeling inspired by his coming-of-age story and his struggle to remain alive against the cruel realities of the world he faced. He opens our eyes to the very prominent issues of the Sudanese refugee crisis and racism with a new lens by performing his life story and asking us Australians why we single his people out, like when his dreams of soccer are crushed by the hate he feels. Most importantly, Mathia shows us we ultimately need to be grateful for what we are given in our prosperous country, as shown by his determination to look for hope in every corner of life.

Upon entering, you are greeted by the talented musician Yacou Mbaye, who plays a djembe and encourages the crowd to clap along with the beat. Mbaye, who plays instruments, and Mathia, who acts out his story, are extremely jovial throughout the play in this way. They constantly encourage the crowd to join in by making people high-five or pointing at people when asking questions, and when the duo is not engaging the audience physically, Mathia always moves to all areas of the small corner stage, creating a private setting that makes you feel you are on a park bench, listening to stories from Mathia personally. This private charm makes Mathia’s messages all the more beautiful, creating wonderful moments of connection between the audience and the actors.

The set cannot be understated as while it’s simplistic at first glance, sometimes less is more. The stage’s background is woven linen, which looks strikingly similar to African woven art. This background, however, transforms when we see Mathia for the first time behind it, singing and walking around it onto the front stage, opening the set and making it seem like he was breaking away from Africa, his past, into Australia, and towards us. Props are also used in clever ways, such as suitcases, which were used as seats as well as to make a map of Africa, a testament to the genius of Mathia and Arthur as it was both extremely practical for Mathia to use fewer props and allowed for swift scene changes with the simple pickup of a box or football.

Of course, shows with such small casts become tiring and sometimes repetitive and even boring. However, I am happy to say this rarely occurred in Lose to Win, as scenes like the one-man fight scene were full of suspenseful music and strobe lights that immediately brought tension back to the stage.

Lose to Win is a show of comedy, coming of age, and, above all, perseverance. Mathia’s thrilling and inspiring journey masterfully grapples with prominent issues facing Sudanese people, a story the Belvoir Theatre won’t forget.

Oliver Bucktin
Year 10