Rabbit & Watson review | Darebin Arts Speakeasy

Love has always inspired stories of devotion, sacrifice and impossible odds, but few take that journey quite as literally as Rabbit & Watson. Shane Woon's latest work reimagines the Chinese mythological figure Tu'er Shen, the Rabbit God of gay matchmaking, placing him in the unlikely world of Australian football. When Rabbit's centuries-old lover returns as Watson, a rising AFL player, he must navigate love, identity and the expectations placed upon him across the celestial and human realms. Blending Chinese mythology, Boys' Love, fantasy and AFL culture, Rabbit & Watson is a thoughtful exploration of what it means to search for belonging while carrying the weight of history, family and tradition.

Normally, I would bristle at the idea of a two-hour show without an interval, but Woon's concept and storytelling are so intriguing and refreshing that I never found myself growing restless or checking the time. Even so, the script would benefit from some judicious editing to tighten its structure. A subplot involving young footballers Cypress and Jaxson could be removed without diminishing the central narrative or its engagement with homophobia, sexuality, and relationships. With another character already questioning their sexuality, this storyline is repetitive rather than expanding the narrative, diluting the impact of the more compelling arcs.

Lobster in a Glass review | Jenna Suffern | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | The Motley Wherehaus

Every now and again, life decides to absolutely wreck your plans, your ambitions, and your carefully curated sense of self. In Lobster in a Glass, Jenna Suffern dives headfirst into those moments, drawing comedy from the chaos when things go slightly or spectacularly wrong. Across the hour, she revisits a series of derailments, shaping them into sharp, engaging anecdotes.



From a career-ending sports injury in school to realising she was gay and later non-binary, Suffern’s life has been stopped in its tracks more than once, requiring several realignments along the way. Through it all, she mines these disruptions for humour, turning detours into stories that are recognisable and somewhat absurd.

Homophonic! review | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

It's been 16 years since Homophonic! had its first performance. 16 years of championing and supporting LGBTIQ+ classical art music. So it feels almost criminal to have only just attended my first ever Homophonic! concert. Staged as part of the Midsumma Festival, with a string quintet and percussion, and voices of The Consort of Melbourne, Homophonic! is a vivid and deeply felt celebration of queer experiences, tracing stories of resistance, memory and community while looking toward what lies ahead.

Artistic Director and musician Miranda Hill also takes the role of MC, providing rich context for each of the pieces we are about to hear. Hill exudes a warmth and openness to her introductions, allowing the audience to grasp not only the compositions themselves but the meaning and purpose behind them. This elevates the six performances beyond music, turning them into an experience that resonates emotionally and intellectually, and leaving a real sense of connection with the stories being told.

Final Queen review | Midsumma Festival | Gasworks Arts Park

Final Queen is a drag circus horror comedy one-woman spectacle, which already sounds like a fever dream, but in the hands of creator/performer Harrison Sweeney and co-creator Rachel Kerry, the chaos is controlled, playful, and often very funny. The story follows drag sensation Grace Lightning as she receives the life-changing call that Kylie - yes, THE Kylie - wants her to audition for her world tour. This requires an urgent road trip from Sydney to Darwin, because of course that is where global superstardom begins.

But a road trip isn't a road trip unless you take your besties with you, so naturally Grace’s (expendable) sidekicks, Jax and Kelly, both brought to life by Sweeney through swift wig changes and defined character work. Jax reads as the seasoned drag queen who has seen everything twice, while Kelly is flirtatious, phone-obsessed, and delightfully chaotic. The driving montage neatly sketches each personality with minimal staging, proving how much Sweeney can do with very little, something he accomplishes repeatedly with this production.

Afterglow review | Midsumma Festival | Chapel Off Chapel

I remember being in New York in 2018 and taking my seat to see S. Asher Gelman's Afterglow. I remember being intrigued by a story I'd not seen on stage before. And as the play progressed, I remembered being fascinated by the movement, choreography and the honesty that it explored. Fast forward to 2026 where Afterglow gets its Australian premiere at Midsumma Festival, and that intrigue and fascination remains.

Afterglow follows Josh and Alex, a married gay couple whose open relationship is built on love, routine, and the quiet negotiations that come with time. When a one-night stand with a younger man opens the door to new desires and unspoken insecurities, the couple find themselves confronting questions they thought were settled, and what began as an experiment in openness and trust, slowly forces them all to navigate jealousy, vulnerability, and the fear of being replaced.

Robert the Octopus review | Midsumma Festival | Brunswick Mechanics Institute

In Robert the Octopus, Sadie has a crush on a co-worker but thanks to the modern world, their interactions are solely online and via Zoom meetings. In an attempt to gain her co-worker’s attention, Sadie buys a pet octopus named Robert. Eventually, it's enough to lure Georgia over to visit and from there, things begin to get ridiculously complicated as Sadie seeks advice from Robert on what to do next.

Queer emerging writer Alex Duncan has previously shown promise for highlighting the absurdities within the mundane with his work Rakali, but this outing could benefit from further development. What in theory could have been a fascinating narrative, in practice is a script that is light on substance and plot progression. The exchanges between characters are rudimentary and missing a spark, and while there are hints at humour, it rarely builds tension or generates laughs. At one point, it looks like the play is going to go somewhere regarding power and control and who has it, but that concept wraps up shortly after it is introduced.

The Placeholder review | Midsumma Festival | fortyfivedownstairs

In The Placeholder, Ben MacEllen delivers a heartfelt kitchen-sink drama set in a regional town, exploring friendship, identity, and the realities of life within a tight-knit group of women. As they navigate the death of a friend and the transitioning of another, the characters grapple with love, loss, and change - all unfolding in the intimate space of Pat’s kitchen. The production combines humour, emotional depth, and quiet poignancy, capturing the joys, conflicts, and complexities of relationships as they play out in this well-worn domestic setting.

MacEllen has crafted a very personal narrative, full of drama and heart. While the show centres on Nic’s transitioning, we also witness cancer battles, marriages, separations, funerals, and other surprises, yet it is never overstuffed. MacEllen features plenty of discussions on LGBTQ+ issues like marriage equality and transgender experiences, but it does not come across like an overt lesson. Instead, we are made privy to these unfolding naturally within Pat’s household.



Australian Open review | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

Australian Open centres on Felix, a happily partnered, newly turned 31-year-old gay man navigating an open relationship with Lucas, an “elite athlete” in the world of professional tennis. Amidst Australian Open fever, Felix finds himself having drinks with Lucas, and his parents, Belinda and Peter, a situation he would rather avoid, but cannot. What begins as a polite social obligation quickly unfolds into an awkward and revealing discussion about love, relationships, and identity; one that forces them all to confront not only each other, but themselves while serving plenty of laughs along the way.

Eddie Orton is captivating as Lucas, an arrogant, driven, and painfully self-assured presence that is played with slick confidence, but allows for  glimpses of genuine tenderness and affection to surface. Sebastian Li provides an excellent counterbalance as the anxious Felix, whose energy contrasts neatly with Lucas’s certainty. While Felix is comfortable in an open relationship with Lucas, he visibly bristles at the prospect of his parents exploring their own relationship, a tension Li handles with hilarious restraint.

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.

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.

Turning taboo into theatre: Keelan Armstrong on PORN | Midsumma Festival | Theatre Works

Turn off the lights and brace yourself. PORN, directed by Keelan Armstrong, takes audiences on a provocative, queer-led journey into one of society’s most taboo industries. Through a series of monologues, the play considers how pornography shapes desire, identity, and shame, all while exploring the humour, awkwardness, and unexpected truths that come with navigating a world where both queer lives and adult content are often treated as forbidden.

For Armstrong, this exploration is deeply personal, moulded by his own experiences growing up queer. "I grew up in a weird era for queer kids, where no one would commit a hate crime against you, but at the same time no one acknowledged the existence of queer people. So I turned to pornography to basically show me what a queer relationship could look like. And I think many young queer people do this in the hope to understand themselves and their queer identity more," he explains.

Final Queen: Where drag meets danger and gay glam meets gore | Midsumma Festival | Gasworks Arts Park

Armed with a hot pink Holden Commodore, circus queen Grace Lightning, the last surviving member of a cross-continental drag convoy, is screeching through the Australian outback fighting to stay alive from the horrors trying to end her. Harrison Sweeney is bringing campy terror, drag glamour, and outback chaos together in Final Queen, a show that defies genre. Inspired by everything from classic slasher films to iconic divas, he and co-creator Rachel Kerry have crafted a story on survival, spectacle, and queer joy. We sat down with Sweeney to talk horror, circus theatrics, and what it takes to turn a solo drag performance into a multi-character, gasp-and-giggle extravaganza.

Final Queen wears its cinematic influences proudly on its blood-splattered sleeve, and Sweeney draw on a wide range of horror techniques to shape the show’s look, tone, and scares. "The main influence is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, one of the original slashers! Indeed the entire subgenre of slasher films was a huge inspiration to us," he tells me. "Rachel and I also looked at Australian outback films like Wolf Creek to help spark ideas. She is a horror guru! Her extensive knowledge of horror films and tropes has been so incredibly helpful in the creation process. We were interested in exploring the Final Girl trope (as referenced in the title), and bringing that to life on stage in a solo show. “Final Girls” like Laurie Strode from Halloween and Ripley from Alien influenced the character of Grace and the story. And we mustn't forget the Scary Movie franchise for some hilarious horror parodies!"

The Placeholder: A trans narrative takes the stage | Midsumma Festival | fortyfivedownstairs

In a regional town, a close-knit friendship group is navigating two major waves of upheaval at once: the death of a friend and the transition of another. Written by transgender man Ben MacEllen, The Placeholder positions these experiences in tandem, finding space to explore how change, loss, and identity ripple not just through an individual, but through a community.

MacEllen unpacks how these themes came together in the writing process, and what this pairing allowed him to examine that might not have emerged had they been interrogated in isolation. "As a trans man, I naturally draw from things I’ve lived or felt, even if they show up in different ways on the page. Our protagonist, Nic, isn’t a proxy for me, but he definitely carries a few familiar threads, bits of my own transition, and things I’ve picked up from other trans folks over the years."

Kimberley Twiner’s queer world of tentacles and play | Misdumma Festival | Brunswick Mechanics Institute

When Kimberley Twiner takes the stage as a director, audiences know to expect the unexpected. Her latest project for Midsumma Festival, Robert the Octopus, dives into a world where eccentricity and whimsy run wild, where even an octopus can steal the spotlight. We caught up with Twiner where she shares her approach to playful physical theatre, queer storytelling, and bringing this delightfully bizarre production to life.

Robert the Octopus weaves absurdity and romance into a story that promises unexpected twists and whimsical charm. It’s a world that director Kimberley Twiner couldn’t resist exploring on stage. "For starters I love what is possible with a three hander play! I love what becomes possible when we bring animal life onto the stage - one of the characters is an octopus," she tells me. "I also love that the writer, Alex Duncan, has put his faith in a rather irrational sounding plot and handed it to me. For me, this is the beauty of theatre: the suspension of disbelief in real time played in an unsinkable and relentless fashion!"

She Slayed: A drag murder mystery too fabulous to miss | Midsumma Festival | Victorian Pride Centre

After a sold-out run at the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, She Slayed: A Drag Murder Mystery returns for a Midsumma Festival season, bringing its blend of hilarious antics and over-the-top musical numbers back to Melbourne. We sat down with Cabaret Queen Dolly Diamond to talk about the cast, the chaos, and what makes performing this drag murder mystery so irresistibly entertaining.

She Slayed was initially staged in March 2024, so a return season to Midsumma has been much anticipated. While the ensemble looked like they were having the time of their lives on stage, Diamond confirms that spark wasn’t just for show. "I definitely feel like I’ve reached that point of my life where I only want to do the shows where I know I’m going to have fun," she says. "This show is exactly that, and the cast is made up of friends I’ve known for quite a few years. That is such a privileged position to be in and I’m grateful for that."

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."

Whitefella Yella Tree review | The University of Melbourne

Dylan Van Den Berg's Whitefella Yella Tree follows Ty, of the River Mob, and Neddy, of the Mountain Mob, who meet under a lemon tree and, over time, grow from cheeky teenage messengers into young men in love as their world changes beneath the shadow of colonisation. With direction from Declan Greene and Amy Sole, the narrative weaves together Blak queerness, the pain of dispossession, and the weight of the past with a sharp, poetic edge.
 
Joseph Althouse and Danny Howard are terrific as Ty and Neddy. Althouse shines as the more anxious Ty, always glancing to Neddy for reassurance. He depicts Ty’s sensitivity beautifully, letting emotional shifts play out with a quiet honesty. Howard, on the other hand, plays Neddy with a rush of excitement and bravado, the kind of kid who believes nothing bad could ever touch him, while hinting at the loyalty and warmth that make him such a compelling counterpart to Ty. As the story moves on and the years roll by, we watch them shift from boys into men shaped by very different paths. Through it all, the two share a surprising softness and affection, and Greene and Sole guide them into moments that feel intimate and earned.

DECADENCE: 10 Years of YUMMY review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Meat Market

It's hard to believe that Yummy is in its 10th year of delivering wildly entertaining and daring cabaret. Led by the charismatic Valerie Hex, its collection of drag, circus, and burlesque has toured the world to rave reviews from audiences and critics. Their 10-year anniversary show, Decadence, winks at indulgence and excess, but beneath the sparkles and spectacle lies a decade of dedication, heart, and artistry.



Over the years, Yummy has welcomed a huge roster of talent, and it’s been a fantastic launching pad for emerging and guest artists, while also retaining most of its original, well-established crew, including Jandruze, Hannie Helsden, and Bendy Ben. And we get them all here. Bendy Ben continues to impress with beautifully choreographed drag routines, featuring one from the company’s very first production that remains mesmerising and unexpectedly emotionally. Jandruze’s performance to Detroit Grand Pubah’s "Sandwiches" is a Yummy classic, and a thrilling fire act where flames highlighting every movement as they dance dangerously close to their body. Helsden’s hula hoop act injects high-energy, unashamedly fun chaos to the evening.



Son of Byblos review | Meat Market

Son of Byblos is an engaging family drama that explores the clash between cultural expectations and personal freedom within a Lebanese-Australian household. Adam (Amir Yacoub) is a 25-year-old gay man whose life is thrown a curveball when his closeted lesbian cousin announces she is marrying a man. This unexpected news forces Adam to confront who he is and what he wants from life. But in a tightly connected family where tradition runs deep, Adam’s journey of self-discovery is far from easy.

Anna Kaleeda Rasheed displays great energy as Claire, and her rapport with Yacoub is very impressive. Together, they convey a believable history, and the way they relate to one another shows an openness and trust they seldom share with to anyone else. Marjan Mesbahi is wonderful as Carol, Adam’s mother, notably in the release and joy she is exposed to from her tango lessons. Amir Rahimzadeh brings depth to John, the father, portraying him with a quiet authority that balances the family dynamics and adds weight to the emotional tension.