The Longest Minute

The Longest Minute is 85 minutes of joy! A sweet coming–of-age tale about a young girl from a mixed-race fanatical NRL family, and her obsession to play football, The Longest Minute uses the background of the Cowboys 2015 success to tell her story of family, loss, and connection.

On a set covered with fake grass and Eskys, and with a scoreboard centre-stage, Jess (Chenoa Deemal) narrates her family history from the moment her parents meet, to her birth, through to puberty. Frank (Mark Sheppard), from a Murri background, is a Rugby League player in Townsville who becomes something of a local hero and makes a popular TV commercial. Football is in his blood, to the exclusion of his family, which his Anglo-Australian wife Margaret (Louise Brehmer), also a rabid supporter, accepts.

Frank wants his son Laurie (Jeremy Ambrum) to follow in his footsteps, but Laurie is happier fishing. Jess is the better football player but she’s a girl and there’s no women’s football league. It’s a scenario ripe for exploration which takes advantage of every comic possibility in a sharp, concise, and sometimes satiric, script by Robert Kronk and Nadine McDonald-Dowd. who brilliantly capture the idiosyncrasy and fanaticism of NRL disciples within a family dynamic.

Deemal is outstanding as Jess, bringing warmth and a cheeky spunk to the role that dominates the play. Her exchanges with Ambrum had an honest brother/sister connection and an unspoken love. Sheppard, as the laconic Frank, was a tower of blokey strength throughout and his inarticulation in the story’s tragic curve was totally believable, likewise Brehmer as the jovial football mum whose grief was obvious in her silences. Lafe Charlton and David Terry rounded out an excellent supporting cast playing a number of roles.

Jason Glenright’s lighting and Kim Busty Beatz Bowers’ sound helped give the play authentic atmosphere. It’s not a pre-requisite to know anything about Rugby League to enjoy this show. The euphoria it generates is exhilarating!

Peter Pinne