A standing ovation in the QPAC Playhouse greeted the world premiere of Suzie Miller’s Strong is the New Pretty, a snappy 80-minute origin story of the AFLW directed by Sarah Giles.

Miller’s heroic version of events is described as “a fictional imagining by the playwright of true events”, drawing inspiration from interviews about the formation of the national professional AFL Women’s league. None of the women depicted, or any AFL team, were involved in the play’s development.

Amber McMahon (right) in Strong is the New Pretty. Photo © Morgan Roberts

Key characters have their identities lightly adapted for the play: Jan Cooper, former AFL National Manager – Female Football Development and colloquially referred to as the godmother of the AFLW, becomes Jane; inaugural Crows coach Bec Goddard is now Bev; and Sam Mostyn, the first female commissioner of the AFL in 2005 and champion of the creation of a women’s league, is the optimistic Alison.

Minor characters, such as the AFL CEO and the prominent sports journalist who literally wrote the book on AFLW, receive the same treatment.

Strong is the New Pretty. Photo © Morgan Roberts

Strong is the New Pretty follows the AFLW through its early stages, the drafting process and its first-ever premiership season. Miller’s writing sprints down the field in her characteristic rapid-fire style, taking the audience from the pipe dream of a women’s league to the inaugural AFLW Grand Final in just 80 minutes.

Tension is skilfully built as the prospective players listen closely to the draft on the radio, most of them while working as teachers, midwives, mechanics, grocery store cashiers and more. The ticking clock of an eight-week season, weeks of professional training in the lead-up and a literal countdown to the grand final also keep the momentum high.

Video design by Craig Wilkinson breaks the narrative into numbered “chapters”, unnecessarily labels the actions unfolding in a scene, and signposts characters, locations and time. The comments directed at the players and the league online are shown in stark black and white, and the screen is raised and lowered to form part of the setting.

Christina Smith’s design is sparse, with few props. This minimalist staging, coupled with lighting design by Paul Jackson that illuminates the space with angled floodlights, effectively conjures the atmosphere of an empty stadium.

Sound design by Brady Watkins and compositions by Clemence Williams incorporate the recognisable AFL siren and turn the sounds of the body – breathing, throat clearing, body percussion – into a backing track for the performance.

Movement sequences choreographed and directed by Kelley Abbey often play out in slow motion, balancing the cracking pace of the storytelling. The iconic red Sherrin ball makes repeated appearances, puppeteered by the players as it soars and spins through the air above their heads.

Strong is the New Pretty. Photo © Morgan Roberts

A cast of eight actors – Lucy Bell, Edyll, Amy Hack, Amy Ingram, Amber McMahon, Tara Morice, Nyasha Ogden and Contessa Treffone – play a wide range of roles, from the trailblazing women of the AFLW to caricatured male commissioners and members of the public, and are a cohesive team of their own.

Miller’s writing volleys the voice of the team between its players like a ball, impactful despite a few dropped or fumbled lines, one requiring a prompt on opening night.

Strong is the New Pretty reflects on the unique pressures faced by women in Australian professional sports. The players persevere and overcome their own doubts, faceless online abuse and in-person comments, and the vastly different allocation of resources compared with their male counterparts. The play is emphatic about the unique ways that women lead and collaborate. The narrative celebrates the formation of the league but also nods to the women of earlier generations, who missed out on the opportunity to play at an elite level.

In its determination to inspire, Strong is the New Pretty depicts sacrifice and selflessness as inherent to women, thematically undercutting the tenacity, devotion and collective action required to create and compete in the AFLW. Leaning on 2010s girl-power catchphrases – “strong is the new pretty”; “you can’t be what you can’t see”; “kick like a girl” – Miller also draws parallels between professional sport and childbearing, reducing the skill and fitness of the players to an innate aptitude for physical endurance.

Strong is the New Pretty distils years of training and campaigning into a neatly packaged overview of the AFLW’s origins, tethered by the infectious, inspiring energy of its early stars and supporters.

Strong is the New Pretty plays at the Playhouse Theatre until 19 September before touring to Canberra Theatre Centre (24 September–3 October), Geelong Arts Centre (8–11 October) and Sydney Opera House (22 October–5 December).