Gay drama Afterglow is set to leave audiences hot and steamy | Midsumma Festival | Chapel Off Chapel

Afterglow has travelled a long way since its off-Broadway debut, gathering a devoted following as it moved from New York to London and beyond. Now the intimate queer drama about a married gay couple who open their relationship up to a third, lands in Australia, carrying nearly a decade of evolution in its wake and a creator who has grown alongside it. Sitting down with writer and director S. Asher Gelman, it becomes clear that the play’s longevity has only sharpened its focus and questions, and stretched out the emotional terrain it explores.

The conversation with Gelman naturally begins with how his relationship to the story has shifted over time and what this new chapter might reveal. "Afterglow is inspired by my first experience with open relationships and polyamory (though back then, I never would have described my situation as “polyamory")," he tells me. "Since writing the play nine years ago, my understanding of open relationships and polyamory has significantly evolved. I am fortunate enough to share my life with my husband Mati (on whom the character of Alex is based) and my partner Stefano (on whom no characters are based, but has deepened my insight into Darius’ position in the play). The three of us operate as a single family unit, so the exploration of the role of family and community has expanded. Whenever we do this play, we get the chance to go deeper and uncover more layers, and I’m keen to get back in the room with these incredibly talented individuals to continue that process."

Ghostware review | The Motley Bauhaus

The reach of AI into everyday life is becoming both alarmingly blatant and quietly ingenious. We’ve grown used to fabricated videos, fake news and dodgy deepfaked interviews cluttering our feeds. In Cat Finch and Rose Bishop’s Ghostware, that same technology is recast as something at once unsettling and strangely tender, giving the audience room to consider death, grief and the stubborn persistence of love through AI.

Jordan Barr steps into the role of Gertrude, with sharp comedic timing and genuine emotional depth, letting us feel every wobble in her world as she continues to live in the shadow of her sister’s death. Then the impossible happens, she gets a phone call from her sister, or at least an AI imitation of her. These so-called GriefBots let the bereaved cling to their loved ones, whether out of guilt, longing or plain old affection. But when the AI version of Beatrice starts spruiking discounted Ray-Bans and cut-price therapy sessions, Gertrude sets out to have the GriefBot shut down, only to discover that getting rid of it is far tougher than she ever expected.

Jessie Ngaio Smith is prescribing connection, ritual and reflection in Magical Prescriptions | Midsumma Festival | Meat Market

In Magical Prescriptions, Jessie Ngaio Smith becomes a doctor of a different kind, offering ten-minute, one-on-one appointments where she listens, honours silences, and responds with a personalised artwork. Drawing on her own journey of chronic pain, misdiagnosis and dehumanisation in the medical system, Ngaio Smith uses the project to explore connection, intuition and ritual. We sat down with her to talk about where this unusual work began, what it asks of her and why she believes our systems of care need to be reimagined from the ground up.

Ngaio Smith’s experiences in the medical system, along with her time in the aged care and disability support sector, pushed her to look for the humanity that hides in a classic doctor’s appointment. "I was thinking about the strange, sad absurdity of us trying to source support and healing within the tight confines of a 15-minute bulk billed doctor’s appointment. I was also studying for my Certificate in Aged Care and Disability Support which was depressing and it forced me to recognise how broken and under resourced our systems of care are," she tells me. "I wondered to myself if art might offer something which feels so lacking in a doctor’s appointment; a connection that is wilder and weirder. It has been my experience that we are suffering, and it can be incredibly difficult to find someone who will actually listen and sit with the discomfort of witnessing suffering."