37

Title: 37
Author: Nathan Maynard
Publisher: Currency Press & Melbourne Theatre Company. 37 was commissioned and developed through Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program and co-produced by Melbourne Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre.

Shortlist: Drama

The local footy team of a small coastal town has spent too long at the bottom of the ladder. But then a new hope arrives: the Marngrook cousins. Named after the Aboriginal game that inspired AFL, they’re match-fit to bring home the team’s first flag in forever. 37  juxtaposes choreographed sequences of Marngrook and the modern game with the hilarious and at-times questionable banter found within sporting clubs around Australia. Set within the era of Adam Goodes’s war cry – and named for the number he immortalised – 37  unfolds in a world of blood and grit and explores the values that drive a national obsession. Community, identity, the price of winning and the meaning of a goal: they’re all up for grabs.

Judges’ report

Trawlwoolway, Pakana/Palawa man Nathan Maynard’s buoyant, accessible, kinetic and important 37  is a compelling portrait of the national psyche skillfully rendered in miniature. Depicting the inequities and limits imposed on Aboriginal lives, masculinity and imagination through the lens of a small town football club, 37  seamlessly blends humour and pathos with naturalism and revelation. Maynard’s rich characterisation and brashly funny dialogue ground the play in the familiar and everyday, while simultaneously depicting the ongoing ramifications of colonisation and the Adam Goodes saga. The playwright’s light touch, concise, deeply revealing dialogue and vividly drawn characters ensure this work is both unflinching in its critique yet compellingly accessible. Of particular note in 37  is Maynard’s thrilling choreographic vocabulary that’s woven throughout the script, shaping and elevating this powerfully resonant story that is about all of us, and this nation – as we are right now. 

Extract

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About the Author

Nathan Maynard

VPLA book photography by Sarah Walker

The 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are proudly supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund and Creative Victoria.