Steve Casaletto and Julia Calvert in The Trophy Room.

The latest offering by Mostly Harmless Productions, The Trophy Room is a pithy comedy of football scandal like something straight from the pages of a UK tabloid.

Billed as a story of “football, blackmail, and hot tubs” the play was well-received by its audience, providing one quick laugh after another. The story centres around ageing football star Ben (John Montanaro) and his efforts to extract himself from a potentially career-ending scandal.

As a character, Ben is glib, somewhat arrogant, and a bit of a cad – which all works out nicely when paired with Montanaro’s likeable onstage presence. He shines in his scenes opposite his bratty Queen Wag wife Alice (Julia Calvert) and lazy houseguest Harry (Steve Casaletto), though some of his later scenes seemed to lack the energy and polish of the first act.

Played with gusto and no small amount of confidence by the always-enjoyable Julia Calvert, Alice is a woman who’s had it up to the teeth with her husband’s antics – though she’s hardly a saint herself. Calvert brings a bright spark of energy to every scene she’s in, using her natural comedic talent to reel in the audience. Particularly enjoyable to me were the interactions between Calvert and Chiara Hyzler in another example of natural comic timing.

A strong effort for a burgeoning playwright­

Trading barbs with the best of them, Hyzler has a natural flair for deadpan comedy, which lends itself well to dry British wit. However, the script gives her precious little to do but be the annoyed voice of reason for several scenes.

This caused her character to fall somewhat flat, after what felt like a very promising introduction. The runaway performance of the show, for me, was certainly Casaletto as Ben’s affably opportunistic old school chum, Harry. As the show’s go-to punching bag, Harry is probably the most enjoyable character in the piece and Casaletto carried off the hangdog humour with aplomb and effortless ease. Even when you want to hate him… he’s still kind of lovable.

Rounding out the cast was Vanessa Attard, as Ben’s slow-moving, new housekeeper, and Barry Calvert, the second member of the Calvert family out of three to be part of this show as football coach Sir Tony. Although Attard’s accent could’ve used a little refining, she was warm and entertainingly bawdy every time she was on stage. As for Calvert senior – if you stuck him in a line up with the other UK Premier League managers, I’m reasonable sure you couldn’t pick him out again. Blustery, authoritative and very well-suited to his role, he is an excellent addition to the final moments of the play.

On to the third Calvert family member – James Calvert. It is always thoroughly refreshing to see more and more productions with locally-based writers and, as a fan of snarky, snappy Ben Elton-style comedy smackdowns, I was particularly excited to learn that The Trophy Room was written by James.

Very wisely for a first time playwright, James sticks to two things he does especially well: biting humour and sports commentary. There are enough witty barbs and pithy putdowns in The Trophy Room to keep the audience in stitches, although a few of them may already be familiar to fans of James’s preferred brand of dry humour.

Also, while the football references went soaring well over my head like a Boeing 747, the avid footy fan to my left assured me that all shots were on goal (did I get that right?). A strong effort for a burgeoning playwright, I felt that while the dialogue was sharp, the play rested a little bit too heavily on the lively banter between characters, leaving the pacing to stutter in places. The play depended on the smart dialogue and often reverted to the format of two snarky characters trading barbs on the sofa (or at the bar), while the plot failed to advance much further. While this may work well in small doses, it gives the actors little room to stretch their legs, although the play did improve as it broke out of that over-used setting. While the conversation provided place for character backgrounds and plenty of good humour, I don’t feel that this should come at the expense of plot or pacing.

That being said, the audience roared with laughter at every snarky comeback and there was a great sense of energy in the theatre throughout the show. Easy to enjoy, The Trophy Room was a fun way to kick off the theatre season for Mostly Harmless Productions.