"Collyer patterns wide-ranging dialogue – we get everything from frank sex confessions to stories of bodily betrayal, from surreal elegy to piteous intimations of domestic violence – into a kind of dream play that, underneath the surface comedy, offers a jarring lens onto gendered experience ... Prue Clark directs a strong ensemble performance. Emily Tomlins has radioactive presence as Cass ... An unsettling tragicomic vision from a talented local playwright, brought to life with buckets of grunt and style." - Cameron Woodhead, The Age 
"Collyer’s writing arcs from brutally unromantic to gruffly poetic with some exquisitely confessional exchanges along the way. Jousting dialogue unravels into contemplative soliloquies ... the design sharply — and magically — counterpoints the narrative reality ... production elements resolve and coalesce into something remarkable, even ecstatic." - Chris Boyd, The Australian
"Netball as Homeric battlefield: In Contest, now on at Darebin Arts Speakeasy, the world created by writer Emilie Collyer and director Prue Clark is remarkable: an epic battle worthy of Homer that spills out of, and perfectly captures, formalised physical contest." - Robert Reid, Witness Performance
"Contest (the very title open to multiple interpretations) is a highly intelligent, perceptive and deeply felt work, performed by an excellent cast. They bring out all the buried or repressed fears and emotions of their characters, layered into them by the playwright. I hope I won’t put anyone off by saying this is genuinely feminist play which makes its convincing case by being so believable." - Michael Brindley, Stage Whispers
"The performances were stellar, in particular by Alice Ansara who captured the personality that must talk to fill the silence; and Emily Tomlins, who captured the darkness, bitterness and pain of lead role Cassandra ... The show is running until Saturday August 4 and is worth checking out: it leaves a deep impression." - Sam Richards, Weekend Notes
"Emilie Collyer’s Contest...is an incisive and moving portrait of five women on a netball team ... The real strength of Contest is its physicality. There is something cathartic but also unsettling in seeing women’s sweat pour down their faces, and their muscles shake with effort. This, combined with Collyer’s writing, makes for a dynamic conversation between mind and body, language and motion ... The performers work brilliantly together as an ensemble." - Laura Hartnell, Theatre People