Sunshine Super Girl by Andrea James, Performing Lines theatre company, Civic Theatre Wagga Wagga, 8 October 2022

Last night I had the great pleasure of seeing Sunshine Super Girl at Wagga’s Civic Theatre. The play is Yorta Yorta/Gunaikurnai woman, Andrea James’ immaculately crafted telling of Wiradjuri tennis star, Evonne Goolagong’s rise from her modest Barellan upbringing to international fame and acclaim.  Written with  Ms  Goolagong’s cooperation and using several of her real life anecdotes , the play treats small town life and community, incipient and overt racism, sexual predation, contemporary politics, 70s fashion,  the relentlessness of championship tennis and both Evonne’s vulnerability and tenacity  with a lightness of touch, sensitivity and humour  that make for a very rewarding production.

Ella Ferris is charismatic in the central role taking us from 3 year old Evonne’s first encounter with a tennis ball retrieved from the back seat of her dad’s beat up old car, through her parents’ dedication and neighbours’ assistance to learn to play tennis and get the right gear, to lodging with Vic Edwards (her coach)’s family in Sydney’s northern suburbs, to encountering the quaint traditions of Wimbledon and the gruelling impact of the international tennis scene. The last most poignantly affecting when Evonne learns of her father’s death in a motor accident while competing in the US Open and is persuaded that sedation and then playing on is preferable to going home for his funeral.

The Cawley–Goolagong love story is handled with the understatement and charm that was the hallmark of their blossoming relationship. The scene where they sneak a romantic picnic at the laundromat is delightful. Lincoln Elliot gets the honourable occasional G&T sipping Roger Cawley’s accent and body language beautifully. While Jax Compton's delightfully over the top caricature of John Newcombe brings a nice touch of broad humour to the Knightsbridge party scenes.

Apart from the play’s overall excellent construction and setting, Vicki Van Hout’s and  Katina Olsen’s choreographed tennis moves make the action hypnotic and show the audience Evonne’s evolving skills and the challenges she faced from opponents  like Margaret Court.

Evonne Goolagong-Cawley and playwright/director Andrea James (source: https://news.aboriginalartdirectory.com/2020/09/sunshine-supergirl.php)

There is so much to say in praise of Sunshine Super Girl but the other motifs that struck me were Evonne’s (and her Mum’s) love of fishing and their traditional knowledge about the best waters to fish in (images of which open and close the play) and the depiction of an Indigenous yarning circle making the link between all the forms of string and twine that bind and hold us, like the grip of a hand on a racquet!

One reviewer I read said they thought this play would enter the canon and be produced repeatedly over years to come. It certainly deserves that and judging by the number of young people in last night’s audience it will act as inspiration for new generations of potential tennis champions.