sydneytheatre

Space Jump Theatre Company invites audiences into the searing poetic intensity of Contest by Emilie Collyer. Running from 17–28 March 2026 at Flight Path Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville, this production delivers a taut, electrifying theatre experience, where power, endurance and the cost of competition collide on the court and beyond.

About the Production: The game slows. It’s a dance. A memory, a dream, the body remembers. Muscles tense and release, bones anticipate the landing after the leap we can do this in our sleep. We Play on.

When a new player, Cass, joins a suburban netball team, the fragile balance of the group shifts. She sees what others cannot or will not, and her truths, quietly spoken, ripple through the team. Secrets, unspoken grievances, and long-held frustrations rise to the surface, turning every pass, pivot, and collision into a reckoning.

Set entirely on the netball court, Contest, written by Emilie Collyer and produced by Space Jump Theatre Company, immerses women of every age, shape, size, and ability in a world governed by rules, expectation, and relentless pressure. Bodies move side by side, sweating, enduring, testing limits. The game becomes a powerful metaphor for resilience, courage, and endurance, both on and off the court, capturing the subtle, fierce, and unrelenting ways women persist.

Blending stylised movement, poetic dialogue, and raw physicality, Contest is a bold, immersive, and unforgettable story of connection, rivalry, and the extraordinary endurance of women. Every moment on the court resonates with intensity, intimacy, and the unflinching reality of human emotion.

But what still aches after the whistle blows?

Synopsis:
When new player Cass joins a suburban netball team, long-held tensions surface, and every pass, pivot, and collision becomes a reckoning. Set entirely on the netball court, Contest captures the fierce, subtle, and unrelenting ways women persist.

Event Details:
Dates: 17 – 28 March, 2026
Venue: Flight Path Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville, Sydney
Tickets: Available at www.flightpaththeatre.org
Run time: approx 75mins

Cast: [alphabetical]
GS: Melissa Jones
GA: Willa King
C: Suz Mawer
GD: Emma Monk
WA: Lana Morgan

Creatives:
Production Company: Space Jump Theatre Company
Playwright: Emilie Collyer
Producer: Kirsty Semaan
Director: Kirsty Semaan
Movement Director: Amelia Pawsey
Lighting Design: Theo Carroll
Composer/Sound Design: Charlotte Leamon
Set/Props Design & Construction: Jason Lowe
Production & Movement Assistant: Danette Potgieter
Tech Operator: Eliza Dodd
Promotional Video: Yarno Rohling
Marketing Images: SPbyKS

Production Highlights:
Idea-Driven Storytelling: A bold, immersive exploration of pressure, rivalry, and endurance, where every pass, pivot, and collision is charged with physical tension, revealing the subtle, relentless ways women persist.
Minimalist Design: A simple netball-court set and striking lighting turn movement into memory, dream, and dance, making every leap, stretch, and fall vividly felt.
Tension and Insight: The arrival of Cass, named after the Greek prophetess cursed to speak truths no one hears, disrupts the team’s fragile balance, exposing secrets, grievances, and unspoken power dynamics.
Kirsty Semaan’s Direction: A physically rigorous, poetically precise interpretation that captures courage, vulnerability, and the quiet ferocity of women on and off the court.
Space Jump Theatre Company’s Mission: Committed to presenting bold, thought-provoking theatre for, by, and about women that resonates, challenges, and lingers.

Content Warning:
This work contains strong language and references to sexual content, domestic violence, suicide, eating disorders and mental health challenges.

Sensory Warning:
The performance includes the use of theatrical haze and loud noise.

About the Director:
Kirsty Semaan (she/her) is a director, producer, and theatre-maker based on Gadigal Country (Sydney), with a passion for bold storytelling and visually striking stage productions. As the founder and Artistic Director of Space Jump Theatre Company, she is dedicated to championing Australian playwrights, amplifying female and underrepresented voices, and bringing impactful plays off the shelf and back onto the stage. Her directing credits include Woyzeck (2021), A Mouth Full of Birds (2022), and Driving the Holden (2022). In 2023, she co-produced and directed Long Story Short, a sold-out short-form theatre project. Most recently, she served as Assistant Director for Blood Wedding at Flight Path Theatre (2024). A Theatre and Performance graduate from the University of New England, her creative approach is further enriched by a successful 20-year career running a photography business, which has provided her with a unique perspective on visual storytelling and the expertise to deliver well executed productions from start to finish.

About the Playwright:
Emilie Collyer lives in Naarm/Melbourne on Wurundjeri Country and writes across poetry, performance, and prose, exploring the intersection of the personal, the existential, and the socio-political. Her plays include Contest, Dream Home, The Good Girl, and most recently Super (Red Stitch Theatre 2025), with The Good Girl having been produced internationally. Her work has won and been nominated for awards including the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award, Queensland Premier’s Drama Award, Green Room Awards, George Fairfax, Patrick White, and Malcolm Robertson. Emilie’s debut poetry collection, Do you have anything less domestic? (Vagabond Press 2022), won the inaugural Five Islands First Book Prize, and she was runner-up in the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize 2024. She works as a dramaturg, text consultant, and teacher, and has just completed her PhD at RMIT, where she now serves as an Adjunct Industry Fellow.

About Flight Path Theatre:
Located in Marrickville, Sydney, Flight Path Theatre champions bold and innovative works, providing a platform for emerging and established artists.

Contest is supported by the Inner West Council and through the Australian Cultural Fund.

Experience the sweat and intensity of Contest at Flight Path Theatre, 17–28 March 2026: www.flightpaththeatre.org

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