Review by Kate Gaul
“All the Fraudulent Horse Girls” is a 60-minute equine fantasia through young girl horse culture; a fairly un-profound exploration of human loneliness and a not-so-subtle queer subtext which gives this lovely play its fizz. Written by the ever-accomplished Michael Louis Kennedy who makes references to everything form “Black Beauty”, “Never Ending Story” and “Saddle Club” to name three … and then there’s Cormac McCarthy. I liked what he said here in an interview about the play: “It is camp in the best way imaginable; in that it's supposed to be tonally serious and doesn't quite execute it. Effectively, we wanted to tell a story of a weird, lonely girl on the autobahn to queer womanhood. To create a tone that was queer and reflective of the inner life of a pre-teen we decided we would go ham on the cultural references to build her character and demonstrate her interior life. And what better way to discuss the pain of not having physical friends than through the prism of an infinite capacity for telepathic friendships with other international weird kids.”
I’m not going to recount the story but suffice to say this is a piece in 3 sections performed by three incredible actors – the beyond fabulous Janet Anderson, Shirong Wu and Caitlin A Kearney. It is pacy and deftly directed by Jess Arthur on a makeshift stage in front of a droopy curtain. You just remember what it was to be 11 and to believe in magic powers of telepathy. Audrey does and so she communicates with every other horse girl in the world – even those who don’t speak English. The three women take turns in playing aspects of Audrey complete with kooky hand gestures, over the top horse girl hats. The performances are skilled, the characterisation knowing. I loved the check pastel matching costumes and inventive low-tech and low-cost fringed denim (set and costumes by Paris Bell).
Memorable is the campy, surreal, hallmark opening scene, which is an interview with a writer who, as a horse girl herself, has written a book about the “divinity of horses”. It is completely outrageous, and we never return to it or the writer – superbly played by the actors with very fruity French accents. It is delicious and entirely sets the tone for the show. I loved its confidence.
To yearn for a horse girl companion, be shunned, and then attempt to steal a police horse on a school trip as a way of proving the legitimacy of her horsey obsession, she is kicked in the head and wakes to find herself in an American desert and from there she must find her way back to Australian suburbia. It is nicely subversive in that all this horse ridin’ and whip crackin’ is female centred and we never meet the big Wild West male of horse myth.
This is a chaotic kaleidoscopic play that defies expectations and does so in the nicest way. Grab a drink from the bar and prepare for a fine ride on this priceless pony. Giddy-up!
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