Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide, then touring
Writer-director Andrea James brings the tennis court to the stage in a warm and imaginative celebration of the Wiradjuri champion
It’s not every day the stage of Adelaide’s Dunstan Playhouse could be mistaken for the tennis stadium across the river, with a red hardcourt surface, white lines, a net and a set of bleachers filled with audience members. But the warm ambience of cicadas, Jimmy Little country tunes, and the gently percussive thock thock thock of a rally in the distance takes us to another time and country altogether.
We meet Evonne Goolagong Cawley (Ella Ferris) at home by the river, casting a line into the water. She loves fishing, she says, which can be a lot like tennis; catching a fish requires a sharp eye, every single muscle, and of course, knowing where the “sweet spot” is.