Tyler, high school star athlete of the Hoke’s Bluff Wildcats, has his biggest game ahead of him. The State finals against the Tuscaloosa Titans. If that isn’t pressure enough, he has to deal with an overbearing coach, love-troubles with his cheerleader sweetheart Connie, and a father worried that something is amiss with the young man.
Left at that, theatre piece Hoke’s Bluff could be the sort of derivative trashy feel- good American high school sport that’s been done to death on the silver screen. It’s not. It’s subversive, zany, and amazing.
The stage is a sports court, and we the audience take seats on bleachers. We wave Wildcat pendants as the coach delivers his pep talk. The school mascot urges us to cheer and holler as the athletes are introduced. Loud music primes our mood. We are pumped.
During the 80-minute performance, I am berated at as one of the athletes, scream as part of the cheer-squad, or hand out towels as Tyler works out. Audience participation is purely a tour for immersion. It’s a considerably effective one — given that the roles of a cast of athletes, cheerleaders, parents, and coach are played by the cast of two.
Hoke’s Bluff distills all the clichés of sports movies and then extrapolates them to the absurd, if not lyrical. The sport itself, like many of the tropes it parodies, is indeterminate. It has quarterbacks, hoops, is played on ice and on grass. It doesn’t matter — it is not meant to make sense.
The plot moves along at a crisp pace, with energetic delivery by the two headline actors pumped by a frenetic soundtrack. It’s as by using the minimalism that is inherent to theatre, it reduces the tropes from cinema to set pieces — keeping the details generic, but focusing on the essence of the themes.
For example, a monologue of coach berating the referee ascends to levels of absurd. Not for the sake of comedy (though it is hilarious), but to capture the inherent absurdity of our obsession with sport and competition. It touches on the poetic. And that is just one scene.
Taken together, Hoke’s Bluff delivers theatre that uses its form to take a subject matter, high school sports, that one does not associate with stage. It distills and elevates it to art.
Not to be missed.
– Christian
Christian G. is an international man of mystery; lover of books, cats and the performing arts; moonlighting as a finance professional by day.
Hoke’s Bluff runs 24-27 May 2017, 7.30pm (80 mins) at the North Melbourne Town Hall. Buy tickets online.
The venue is accessible.
