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."

As Gelman says, the play is motivated by his own encounters with love and open relationships, which means that articulating such personal moments for the stage became a defining force in the way he wrote it. "I knew that nudity had to play an important part because so many of my real-life conversations that sparked conversations in the play were had in various states of undress," he explains. "There's a level of intimacy that opens itself up once we have been inside of each other; a vulnerability that demands honesty. Translating that into a theatrical experience without the nudity that accompanied it felt disingenuous and dishonest."

"That commitment to authenticity also shaped my approach to the more sensual and sexual scenes of the play. Sexuality is personal and specific, and simulated sex onstage always feels empty and, frankly, unsexy. Asking audiences to watch two people indicate having sex, knowing full well that they’re not, risks pulling everyone out of the story. Turning those instances into highly stylized choreography allows us to tap into real feelings, as opposed to false actions."  

Almost ten years after its first performance, the evolving nature of its characters and relationships remains a point of reflection for Gelman, especially in the way they continue to confront and surprise him. "Every time we revisit this story, it feels fresh, and every time we expand the Afterglow family, new voices are formed, asking bold questions and challenging assumptions I didn’t know I had. It’s always exciting to hear how disparate personal experiences fold into this play, and I think that speaks to the universality of the situations the characters find themselves in," Gelman notes. "We have all been disappointed by someone we loved. We have all felt unfulfilled. We have all wondered what a different life or different partner could look like. Afterglow doesn’t so much provide answers as it asks questions, and I love the challenge of a really great question."

"What consistently surprises me is how much people laugh. We generally take sensuality and sexuality very seriously, and since audiences expect that from Afterglow, both because of its reputation and its marketing, they don’t expect its humor. Afterglow lives in that space between joy and devastation, sometimes delivered in the same breath."

For Gelman, guiding an Australian cast into the honesty and openness that sit at the heart of these intimate relationships comes down to process and presence, informed by his work in the rehearsal room. "We’re attempting to have a conversation with our audience, and that conversation starts at rehearsals, not just with the actors, but with the entire creative team. We’re all trying to build something and with any production, particularly this one, that is founded on trust," he states. "By putting this out there and owning it fully as one that was influenced by my own experience, I’m able to find common ground with most people who have ever been in love, in lust, and in the space between. Leading with that enables me to cut through a lot of distance rather quickly, because we’re not having a theoretical discussion about something that could happen, we’re having a real one about something that did. A real discussion about real things that happen to real people."

With the Australian season approaching, attention turns to what local audiences might carry with them after witnessing the show and which parts he is most eager to see strike a chord. "I hope people leave the theatre stirred to have difficult, necessary conversations, whatever that may be, because these exchanges ultimately bring us closer to ourselves, even if sometimes they push us further from each other. We’ve been responsible for quite a few breakups over the past nine years, and I honestly couldn’t be happier, because the loneliest thing is not, in fact, being single, it’s being stuck in a life with someone you no longer connect with."

"Regarding particular moments in the show, I’m mostly curious about seeing how certain references will land. Afterglow is set in 2017 in New York City, and now that that’s almost a decade ago, I’m interested in how nostalgia plays into the piece. We’ve built a beautiful production, complete with an onstage shower that does more dramatic work than I could possibly spoil here, and I’m excited to have Aussie audiences visit our "little play that could."
 
MIDSUMMA MINUTES – QUICKFIRE FIVE
 
1. A song I could listen to on repeat forever is Dancing On My Own by Robyn.
2. One object I can’t live without during production is my notebook, because there are always notes!
3. My favourite word is “zhuzh”, because you don’t always need to do a full rewrite; sometimes all it takes is a little zhuzh!
4. Something unexpected that brings me joy are my cats, because cats really do make everything better.
5. If I could live one day as someone else it would be as a woman, because I am fascinated by how much gender and sexuality shape our lives, and that would truly be the only way to experience the difference.

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran
Season: 30 Jan - 8 Feb | Mon - Thu 7.30pm, Fri -Sat 6:30pm & 9:30pm
Duration: 90 minutes
Tickets: $69 Full | $59 Conc
Bookings: Midsumma Festival

Image credit: Mati Gelman