Behind the Scenes of "THE SHEDS"
- Presidential Productions
- Aug 19, 2013
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 4
Crafting Authenticity as New Stage Play Lifts Curtain on Locker Room Life
As Melbourne Fringe Festival approaches, a bold new theatre production is preparing to take audiences inside an AFL locker room.
Written and directed by James Cunningham, THE SHEDS is an intimate and provocative new Australian play set entirely in the world of an AFL club’s changeroom. Part tribute, part reckoning, the piece explores the cultural rituals of mateship, masculinity and silence among men — and it’s already generating quiet buzz among the city’s independent theatre community ahead of its September debut at Long Play in Fitzroy
North.
The performance space at Long Play, a bar-cinema hybrid known for its eclectic backroom theatre, will be transformed into a black box locker room. Additional black drapes were personally installed by the director to enclose the stage, deepening a sense of privacy. “I wanted it to feel like the audience had wandered into a place they shouldn’t be,” he says.
The design of THE SHEDS is refreshingly minimal, but every detail has been chosen for impact. The space includes a set of real vintage wooden lockers, sourced from a Melbourne private boys' school — aged, worn, and nostalgic, they form the backdrop to a world both ordinary and mythic.
Three wooden benches will dominate the space, offering both seating and structure for the actors’ physical and emotional movements. A makeshift ‘communal shower’ to be positioned at the very front of the stage — a deliberate decision to confront audiences with the physical vulnerability of its characters.
The lighting design mimics the sterile brightness of real locker rooms, but gradually shifts in tone as the play progresses — reflecting changes in time, tone, and mood. Blue lighting washes over the shower area, evoking the flickering glow of communal neon changerooms, while still allowing emotional subtleties to emerge.
True to Cunningham’s stripped-back approach, THE SHEDS contains no musical score. Instead, audiences will hear only what the characters hear: dialogue, silence, and the sound of running water — particularly potent in the shower sequences, where it punctuates scenes of unspoken vulnerability.
To maintain authenticity, the amateur production went as far as custom-designing AFL uniforms for the fictional 'Fitzroy Fighters' — a nod to the now-defunct VFL team that still looms large in Melbourne’s footy culture. The kit was manufactured by a local company that supplies actual AFL clubs, and features bespoke logos, sponsor graphics, and shorts that would pass muster on any local oval. Old towels and real footy boots complete the illusion.
The cast, including local Melbourne actors Patrick Chiroco, Ludwik Exposto, and Andii Mulders, will perform fully nude in several scenes — not for shock, but as a statement. “Nudity isn't simply an aesthetic choice,” Cunningham insists. “We’re doing it because this is what the space requires. You undress physically, and that creates an opportunity to undress emotionally.”
Though the stage is sparse and the team behind the show small — often just Cunningham and the actors working in rehearsal — THE SHEDS tackles ideas as large as any stadium; repressed sexuality, loyalty, fear and the weight of masculine silence.
“There’s an unexplored mythology around locker rooms,” Cunningham says. “They’re sacred and brutal. We want to explore that contradiction.”
The play draws aesthetic and thematic inspiration from real-life changeroom rituals, as well as cinematic references also. The result is a work that will blend athletic physicality with emotional claustrophobia, and promises to offer a rare look at what remains unsaid between men.
THE SHEDS will premiere as part of the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival, with performances at Long Play Theatre in Fitzroy North. Tickets are expected to sell quickly for this tightly staged, boldly intimate new work.
For details and bookings, visit melbournefringe.com.au or follow updates via Presidential Productions.
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