Peter Pan: A Twinkle in Time review | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

What happens when the boy who doesn’t grow up… grows up? When the twink is no longer a twink? In Peter Pan: A Twinkle in Time, Dean Robinson explores what it means when the identity you’ve carefully carved out for yourself begins to shift, beyond your control.

Peter Pan has been blissfully living in Neverland, venturing into the real world only once a decade. But in 2026, something has happened...Peter has aged and lost his twink status. In denial, he tries to cling to it by bleaching his hair, wearing tight, skimpy clothing, and removing all his body hair. There’s also a quest to find a new “fag hag,” featuring two volunteers battling it out in a game-show style challenge that gets the whole audience joining in.

I’m Only Dating These Men... review | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

Just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you can’t find love. Or so we’re told at the beginning of one of the longest show titles in recent memory, I’m Only Dating These Men Because My Uncle Bequeathed Me Money and I Need to Get Married By the End of the Year. It is a title with many other, far simpler options available to it, but its unwieldy length neatly encapsulates the creative instincts of Luke Costabile and Trent Cliffe. Why be straightforward or predictable when you can be random and eccentric. That same philosophy underpins this musical comedy about love, for better or worse.

Costabile plays Larry, a veterinarian who discovers he will lose his inheritance of $946,000 unless he is married by the end of the year. What’s a gay to do? Get married of course. Easier said than done, particularly when faced with a parade of strange and often alarming potential partners, all of whom are played by Cliffe.

The Pole Shebang review | Midsumma Festival | The MC Showroom

Andrea James Lui has been pole dancing for over a decade. In The Pole Shebang, they take the audience behind the glitz and glamour of the craft as they prepare to compete in the Ms Pole Dancing World Championships. It is a moment of high stakes, a chance to showcase the full extent of their skill and to be watched on a global stage.

But, as Lui shares, the road to this opportunity has been far from smooth. They speak candidly about the isolating nature of pole dancing and the personal toll of committing to an art form that is generally practiced alone. Layered into this are the internal tensions of the practice itself, including debates around presentation, standards, and the contentious politics of heels.

Duck Pond review | Princess Theatre

Circa return to Melbourne with Duck Pond, a reimagining that fuses two timeless tales, Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling. In the former, a cursed princess trapped in a swan’s body finds love with a prince, only for deception and obsession to lead to tragedy. In the latter, an outcast mocked for his difference endures cruelty and loneliness before discovering he was a swan all along. These parallel narratives form the backbone of Duck Pond, a production that uses circus as both spectacle and storytelling.

Acrobatics are seamlessly integrated into the plot, with silk routines, lifts, throws, and balances doing as much narrative work as the text itself. Through its movement, the show connects Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling around ideas of flight, vulnerability, and transformation. The tossing, jumping, carrying, and leaping are shaped by the journeys of the Black Swan and the Duckling rather than circus grandness for its own sake.

Saturday Night Fever review | The Athenaeum Theatre

Saturday Night Fever follows Tony Manero, a young man from Brooklyn trying to escape the grind of his working-class life through disco, ambition, and the hope of love. The musical immerses the audience into the glittering, pulsating world of 1970s disco, but beneath the sequins and platform shoes, it touches on darker realities of family conflict, personal trauma, and the pressures of growing up. While the show’s set, costumes, and music vividly capture the era and energy of the dance floor, the tension between its flashy, celebratory style and the weight of its serious themes creates a complex, sometimes uneasy viewing experience.

Blackpill: Redux review | Theatre Works

Online hate communities aimed at young men are growing faster and more insidious than many of us realise, quietly luring them at their most vulnerable. Blackpill: Redux exposes how easily curiosity and insecurity can be manipulated, taking small questions about confidence, dating, or self-worth and spinning them into a dark, isolating digital world where belonging is weaponised and anger is cultivated. 

There are several standout scenes, including our protagonist Eli scrolling through Instagram reels before finding his gateway to the Blackpill community. A later striking sequence has the ensemble appear in Eli’s dreams - or perhaps nightmares - each wearing a mask of problematic pop culture men, such as Ross from Friends, Mark from Love Actually, and Professor Snape from Harry Potter. It’s incredibly creepy and heightens the unsettling mood. The cast is dynamic and versatile, wholly inhabiting both intimate and group moments, and brings a tense energy whenever they appear.

I’m Only Dating These Men... explores the messy, funny world of gay love | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

In I’m Only Dating These Men Because My Uncle Bequeathed Me Money and I Need to Get Married by the End of the Year (now that's a mouthful!), Larry is a man racing against time to find love - or at least a legal spouse - before an eccentric uncle’s conditions upend his life. The two-man musical turns dating into a hilarious obstacle course, introducing audiences to a parade of absurd, unforgettable characters while exploring what love, partnership, and connection really mean. Creators, Trent Cliffe and Luke Costabile, take us inside the making of the show, from its wild comedic moments to the personal experiences that shaped its heart.