Select Press
The Monthly Awards 2024
"The excitement derives chiefly from the mountain-goat surefootedness of the playwright, Emmanuelle Mattana, who, with a muscular control of rhythm, scan and tone, manages at every turn to avoid obviousness. To embrace nuance and humour, goodwill, fellow feeling, mess, shame, hope. To allow an audience to inhabit – by turn – the bodies on stage in a complicated and yet enlightening way, even as those bodies surprise and play tricks on us... To see a writer – so young – attempt so much, and succeed so lavishly? There is no pleasure like it. Bravo."
- Annabel Crabb
Schoolboys ranked this smart young woman. Her Response is thrilling.
"Mattana has the kind of self-possessed intelligence that raises the IQ of an entire room and
leaves it crackling with big-brain energy... [Trophy Boys] is an exemplary instance of how art can advance and improve public debate in a thoroughly entertaining way. It’s as impressive (and
funny) a debut as I’ve seen in 20 years as a theatre critic, and the debate it covers – the causes of misogyny, sexual assault and gendered violence – couldn’t be more relevant or urgent."
- The Age/Sydney Morning Herald
Theatre Lovers Should Rush to see Trophy Boys
★★★★★
"The script is powerful and ferociously intelligent; the performances witty and exuberant and, crucially, empathetic (the boys’ behaviour might be grotesque and hypocritical, and sometimes caricatured, but the actors don’t dehumanise their subjects) and all elements of design, including use of a traverse stage, promote a voyeuristic intimacy." - The Age
Callously Smart Comedy Lands in Sydney
★★★★★
"If you had asked me what I thought the next canonical Australian text would be before I watched Trophy Boys, I certainly wouldn’t have pegged a play that features a sign boldly emblazoned with the words 'Feminism has failed women' set against a backdrop of portraits of “powerful women leaders... The success of the show is hinged on Mattana’s meticulously crafted script... (her) writing skillfully balances the comedy with a much darker conversation, which creates scenes of tension that culminate effortlessly into the play’s unnerving ending." - Time Out Sydney
This House Awards Trophy Boys Five Stars
★★★★★
"The play holds an instant appeal for any person who has dabbled in debating, its props and jokes nostalgic. But its incisive commentary on how misogyny contorts itself to escape the spotlight rings true for all audience members. Whether you find the prep room familiar or alien, poking fun at private school boys is a universal treat." - Honi Soit
Australian Netflix series Videoland is a lesbian rom-com set in a 90s video shop
"Enjoying its Australian premiere at the Queer Screen Film Festival this week before streaming on Netflix from Sunday, it stars Mustangs FC lead Emmanuelle Mattana as video store clerk Hayley, furtively working her way through a handwritten list of queer films... It's a lush tribute to love's first blush, with Mattana shining as a young woman haltingly emerging from the closet... Hopefully a second season will emerge, so we can follow all the characters on their shared journey."
- ABC