REVIEW: Trophy Boys at Riverside Theatres Parramatta
- Lola Bond
- Aug 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 10
Do you love women? Well the Boys at St Imperium certainly do, and they’ll prove it. Played in real time, Trophy Boys drops us in a cramped debating prep room with the lads as they sharpen their arguments and flex their vocab. Tasked with debating that feminism has failed women and figuring out an ethically conscious way to do so, one that won’t harm their careers or reputation the boys implode. Stakes? High. Egos? Higher.
Insanely smart and rigorously entertaining. This gender bending satire lands hard. It’s camp and flourished with the occasional absurd meltdown but it’s grounded in something sharp and ugly, the misogyny, homophobia, and power games so entrenched in elite boys’ schools. The power games that spill out into the country’s so-called “leaders.” One moment you’re laughing at a perfectly pitched zinger, the next you’re catching yourself thinking, Oh… I’ve met that boy.
Personally I think the only way to tackle any topic as sensitive as assault or misogyny is through humour. No one likes to be bashed over the head with how terrible the world is and how we need to change, people switch off and nothing happens. How you really get people is by spoon feeding them through fits of laughter and Trophy boys does just that. Trickling in the perfect amount of macho and underhand comments to get you thinking, and once they’ve hooked you through their impeccable dance brakes, BAM! This play hits hard.
The cast nail the frenetic energy of teenage boys teetering between bravado and breakdown, all without losing the pulse of the play’s politics. I will say it took a moment to fully lean into some of the over the top performances but once I was there I was with them all the way. Vocally I think there were some projection issues as some of the performers were hard to hear (and I was sitting in the 3rd row) but I also think the space did them a slight disservice as it was very long. There were also some physical beats that felt under rehearsed and slightly sloppy. That being said this team barely let a word go to waste, whether it’s an offhand insult or an eruption of pettiness that escalates into glorious chaos, everything was well timed and applauded with a ripple of laughter.
The highlight of the night was definitely Fran Sweeney-Nash who absolutely stole the show.
Design-wise, it’s stripped back but tight. The single room setting feels like a pressure cooker, the lighting shifts push the emotional beats without overplaying. Whilst the sound design sneaks in sly punches of humour I felt it was somewhat lacking, there were moments during where I yearned for some music or a sound effect to drive the tension and support the actors.
Trophy Boys perfectly teases the smugness of institutions that think they breed leaders, when really they’re just breeding more of the same. but with debating cue cards, badly grown moustaches and a light mist of Lynx Africa. So if you’ve ever rolled your eyes at a prefect speech, Trophy Boys is your night. Come ready to laugh, wince, and maybe even wish you’d joined the debate team — but only for the drama.
