POWER. PRIVILEGE. HIGH SCHOOL DEBATING: AWARD-WINNING COMEDY TROPHY BOYS HITS CARRIAGEWORKS 11 Jun 2025

Gadigal Land / Sydney, Australia: School is in session! Fresh from its off-Broadway NYC premiere, the razor-sharp queer black comedy Trophy Boys, about power, privilege and high school debating, takes up residence at Carriageworks from 23 July – 3 August.  

Winner of Best New Australian Work at this year’s Sydney Theatre Awards, Trophy Boys playfully and powerfully interrogates the well documented toxic masculinity, misogyny and homophobia of Australia’s ‘elite’ private boys’ schools. With biting satire, it lays bare the pipeline from schoolboy to the highest offices of authority. 

Set on the biggest night of Melbourne’s high school academic calendar – the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Inter-school Debating Tournament – the play unfolds in real-time. The all-boys team from the elite St Imperium college are ready to totally annihilate their sister school rivals, tasked with arguing ‘that feminism has failed women’. They join forces to come up with a case that will win them the debate – and save them from getting cancelled. 

“Trophy Boys is a revelation… drag at its most satirical and incisive.” ★★★★★ – The Age 

Written by Emmanuelle Mattana (ABC’s Mustangs FC) and directed by Marni Mount (The Camel), this celebrated work from Soft Tread and The Maybe Pile is performed by a female and non-binary cast in drag. Donning school uniforms to reprise their roles are Gaby Seow (Young Rock, Celebration Nation), Leigh Lule (Turn up the Volume, CEEBS), and Fran Sweeney-Nash (This is a Self Portrait), with Myfanwy Hocking (How To Be a Person When the World is Ending) joining the ensemble. 

Trophy Boys is presented as part of the Carriageworks Winter program, showcasing powerful works by world-class Australian talent that bring together bold voices, passionate storytelling, and unforgettable performances across theatre, music and dance. Other program highlights include the Oliver Award-winning Prima Facie, the world premiere of Sydney Chamber Opera’s Aphrodite, and the Sydney debut of Australian Dance Theatre’s Marrow, alongside a jam-packed Vivid Sydney lineup. 

Trophy Boys’ season at Carriageworks is the first stop of a national tour that will travel to Parramatta, Melbourne and Brisbane. 

Trophy Boys is presented by Soft Tread and Carriageworks, in association with The Maybe Pile, from 23 July – 3 August 2025. Tickets are on sale now. 

IMAGES: Available to download here.