It was the image of an Aboriginal woman in a tennis outfit dancing to ‘Psycho Killer’ by Talking Heads that gave the first spark of inspiration for Megan Wilding to write her latest play, 'Game. Set. Match.'
“There's something that excited me about that image,” Wilding told NITV.
"Then I built the rest of the yarn around that moment.”
Wilding, who also stars as lead character Ray, describes the play as a "will-they-won’t-they, rom-com psychological thriller" that takes place over the course of just one night at the Australian Open, one of international tennis' biggest events.
But Wilding says the short time frame explores a conversation that has been “twenty years in the making”.
“It’s a bit of my own life but also a bit of my ideas of colonial structures and weaving them all together, and I think tennis is the sport that I think can hold it all.”
Wilding said the competitive nature and back and forth of a tennis match is akin to the struggle for power in this country.
“No one approaches tennis going ‘I’m going to lose this match,’” said Wilding.
“I think that is also the conversation between Aboriginal people and white Australia ... white Australia don’t want to lose their power as much as we have survived.
"Both parties don't want to lose ... I think tennis in that regard is the thing that just drives it.”
'Aboriginal women have the best opinions on everything'
Over the past decade, the Gamilaroi woman has become a scene-stealer across television, film and theatre with notable roles in ABC's comedy Gold Diggers and Sydney Theatre Company's Blackie Blackie Brown.
This time turning her hand to writing, Wilding said she wanted to depict a confident and opinionated Aboriginal woman.
Enter her character, 'Ray'.
Ray meets Joshua (Rick Davies - Offspring, Apple Cider Vinegar) at the Australian Open and the pair hit it off, serving flirtatious banter back and forth, until a dark twist intervenes.
“I think Ray is so multi-faceted, but she is so secure in her opinions and I think Aboriginal women have the best opinions on everything,” she said.
“Every yarn I want to hear what the Aboriginal woman in the room is saying, and I think Ray does that."
Wilding said she hopes Aboriginal women will see themselves in Ray.
“I think she is unapologetic in her Indigeneity," she said.
"I think she is unapologetic in her opinions ... in her laughter ... in her tears and her anger and her joy and her love, and I think that is what it is to be an Aboriginal woman.”
Although she crafted Ray herself, Wilding admits portraying her has been her biggest challenge yet.
"I think she’s the hardest character I've approached as an actor," said Wilding.
"It's vulnerable, it’s raw but I feel like I’ve really tried to put my soul into it ... It’s the most scared I’ve been of a role which I think is so exciting because I think the thing that scares you the most you should probably run towards."
Across the theatre scene, Wilding said she is excited by the depth and range of First Nations talent.
“I think that the Aboriginal industry in Australia is one of the most successful across the board, because I think we’re all just doing it and that makes me so excited,” she said.
"We’re touching everything and we’re not just doing one art form, we’re doing multiple things.”
Wilding believes that for opportunities to improve in the industry, Black women need to be truly seen.
“I think they box us in to one kind of way, whereas all my life I grew up with Black women that have different opinions,” she said.
“So see us. Take the time and see us.”
Wilding hopes audiences walk away from Game. Set. Match. more open to having hard conversations.
“I think that’s what I love about theatre art is when you can just experience it and then go 'what we’ve just witnessed allows me to be brave to approach this conversation,'” she said.
And the conversation she’s trying to spark?
“What truth is. What is it? What it is to call truth out. What does truth cost? What is honesty? And what does it cost?”
Game. Set. Match runs 1 May - 23 May at the Malthouse theatre, Naarm / Melbourne.
