Mature Skin review | Northcote Town Hall

Written by Gabrielle Fallen, Mature Skin traces the charged connection between Paul, a successful cis gay fragrance designer in his 40s, and Jasmine, a young trans woman and retail worker who sells his products. A chance encounter in the bathroom of a work event quickly deepens, leading them into a relationship that probes passion, kink, fetishisation, queerness, trans identity, and shifting power dynamics. The play navigates intimacy and attraction, highlighting the vulnerability and complexity of their interactions.



Peter Paltos and Bailey Ackling Beecham bring an affecting chemistry, built on a tension that sits somewhere along seduction and resistance. Their characters circle one another with a mixture of fascination and discomfort, and the actors maintain that equilibrium with poise. The result is a volatile entanglement, where magnetism and hesitation are never quite separate.

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.



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."

Poems of a Transsexual Nature review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Trades Hall

Cynda Beare is a trans, neurodiverse, Palawa artist and writer and performer of in Poems of a Transsexual Nature. The show tells the story of a young brotherboy who goes to Country for the first time and is forced to reckon with the past, the present, and the future, with plenty of uncertainty, epiphanies, and sex along the way. 

Beare gives a wonderfully committed portrayal of Apollo, capturing all the conflicting thoughts and emotions that are racing through his mind as he grapples with the power of returning to Country. The narrative is told as part confessional, part enacted scenes, and part burlesque, with each one doing well to support the other and enhance the story in ways the other two styles can't. 

That said, the piece could gain from a bit more direction and cohesion. It has a scattered quality that sometimes works to its advantage, but occasionally leaves you wishing for a steadier hand to guide it. I would’ve loved to see more of its poetic sensibility, those instances where language, imagery and emotion come together to illuminate Apollo’s arc. The references to the black cockatoo were especially powerful and grounded the work beautifully in ancestry and Country.

First Trimester: Theatre, Intimacy, and the Search for a Sperm Donor at Melbourne Fringe

First Trimester is not your average theatre show. It is part performance, part experiment, part tender interrogation of what it means to build a family as a transgender person. London-based artist Krishna Istha takes the stage with an unusual mission: to seek out the “perfect” sperm donor. We chat to Istha ahead of their Australian premiere at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Turning a deeply personal exploration with fertility and trans reproductive healthcare into a performance might sound daunting, but for Istha it came from both curiosity and need. "First and foremost, I’m a problem solver. Most of my shows begin as an attempt to untangle a real problem in my life. My partner and I are both trans and we wanted to find a sperm donor. However, when we looked at sperm banks, the information we got - like eye colour, height, academic achievements - felt meaningless," they tell me. "What we really wanted to know was if they were kind, and if we aligned on bigger things like ethics and morals. I made a passing comment to my partner that it would be great if we could just interview people face-to-face before picking a donor. And that throwaway comment spiralled into this!"

Djuna review | Northcote Town Hall

Djuna is a sexually charged thriller that explores power, vulnerability, and the unsettling dynamics between two complex strangers. Set within the claustrophobic walls of a hotel room, the play pulls the audience into an intimate yet suspenseful psychological struggle between two people who meet to play out a mutual fantasy. Written by Eva Rees, Djuna keeps you second-guessing everything you hear and see until the very last moment.

Dion Mills delivers a captivating performance as Marcus, the right-leaning, financially successful, cisgender heterosexual male. From the instant he steps onto the stage, his presence demands attention. Every aspect of his portrayal, from his confident stride to his phone conversations before Djuna’s arrival, reveal a man brimming with self-assurance with Mills holding a commanding energy that fully embodies Marcus. As cracks begin to show in his demeanour, they reveal an intricate side to the character, providing further dimension to his otherwise unshakable exterior.

Assigned Magician at Birth review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

We all have a part of ourselves we don’t present to the outside world, the secret self that we don't want anyone to know about. Tricksy Collins has been doing that for many years. She has been an award-winning comedian but … also a professional magician. Quelle Horreur!!! But she’s ready now to publicly embrace the title of magician and in Assigned Magician at Birth, she talks about the magic community and the challenges of trying to fit in when something is not quite right.

Collins is completely in her element and while there are some nerves apparent in the opening moments, her rapport with the audience quickly has them onside and she begins to enjoy herself with her acts and her audience even more so.

Overflow review (Midsumma festival)

Rosie has locked herself in a nightclub bathroom after catching the eyes of some transphobic attackers. In Travis Alabanza's Overflow, Rosie uses this time to assert her place in this world while looking at past encounters and friendships and the impact they continue to have on her.

Janet Anderson carries the production with grace and prowess in her portrayal of Rosie. From the opening minutes of this 70 minute monologue, she provides a deeply understanding and confident representation of who this person is - having most likely gone through these experiences herself - with everything she says coming from a place of anger, fear, warmth and hope.

Burgerz review (Midsumma Festival)

In April 2016, Kikki Temple had a burger thrown at them at Flinders Street Station. The person who threw it called out a transphobic slur. There were over 100 people around at the time, and no one did anything to help. Written by Travis Alabanza - whom this actually happened to - Burgerz uses the humble burger to discuss gender identity and violence against trans people through an interactive cooking show and confessional storytelling.

Kikki Temple dazzles in this production. She establishes brilliant rapport with the audience and her interactions with us are sincere. Engaging in conversation with us means there is a level of uncertainty and spontaneity with what could happen, but Temple remains in control and her razor-sharp responses and reactions never stop coming. She's gentle with us at the beginning and gradually the anger, hurt and fear begin to come through and the implicit responsibility we must all take for the burger assault become clearer. 

The Last Brunch review (Midsumma Festival)

Darwent & Gray makes its return to Midsumma Festival with a brand new musical theatre production The Last Brunch. With an all-queer cast, the story follows Bea, who is invited to Brandon's home, her ex-boyfriend, who announces he is getting married to his new partner.

What ensues is a comedic but considered look at love, marriage and relationships within this group of queer and trans friends, lovers and in between. Caleb Darwent's script is full of interesting insights about how the queer community views marriage, from both sides of the spectrum. Rather than imposing their own opinion on the issue, Darwent uses the first half of the show to have an open discourse on these ideas, whereas the second half is more a look at the impact relationships - both romantic and platonic - can have on people within the trans and queer community.

Transcendence review (Midsumma Festival)

Taking place over the course of an evening, Transcendence tells the story of 15-year-old William, as he tries to understand who he is and who he wants to be. Written and directed by Wayne Stelini, it offers a humourous yet sincere look at gender identity and the challenges that a teenager has when faced with these choices. Through William’s daggy father (Michael Robins), his acid-tongued friends Ricky and Felicia (Kyle Cuthbert and Ivan Koetsveld) and some brilliant lip-syncing numbers, we follow William (Anthony Pontonio) on this journey of self-discovery.

Stelini has us spend a good half hour focusing on the dynamics of these four people and helping us to see things from their perspectives. However, it isn’t until the final half of the show where we learn that William’s parents are sending him away to a conversion camp and the reasons for this become clear. As such, we don’t get to explore this part of the story which results in an ending that is slightly rushed.

Kikki Temple on how a mere burger is lifting the lid off gender and race politics with Burgerz

In 2016, a burger was thrown at performance artist Travis Alabanza as they walked along Waterloo Bridge. No one did anything to help or assist. To understand this act of violence, they created a piece based around the burger into a confessional storytelling show with live cooking, and audience interaction to share and highlight the lived experiences of a trans person of colour.

For Midsumma Festival this year, Burgerz is making its way to Theatre Works with Kikki Temple taking the audience through the unique experience that mashes together trans culture and the burger. Through some serendipitous circumstances, Temple, already aware of Alabanza and Burgerz, was put in touch with director Kitan Petkovski about starring in the production.

Such An Inspiration review (Melb Fringe)

I walk into the venue five minutes before the show is scheduled to begin and comedian Anna Piper Scott is already working the crowd. She's learning everyone's names and as I come to learn, she can speak at 100 miles an hour, but not because of nerves but because she is genuinely interested in giving as much as she can to her audience in the time that she has them.

Presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Piper Scott's Such An Inspiration explores how trans women generally have three narratives told about them: as a punchline, as a villain and as a victim. For the next hour, Piper Scott weaves together a number of thoughts, anecdotes and jokes that highlight this but making it clear that she, and every transgender person, are a lot more than that.

Queer and trans fairytales come to life in "The Story Keepers" - Midsumma Festival

While there's plenty to see and do during Midsumma Festival for the adults, there's also just as much fun to be had by families and children, including the magical, fun, queer fairy tale show, The Story Keepers. Written and directed by Em Chandler, the show has a group of fairy tale collectors who record the fairy tales of the world with queer and trans representations in its key characters. In this upcoming production, they share three overlooked fairy tales from Germany, Spain, and Iceland.

The Story Keepers has been a long time coming for Chandler, who has spent years selecting, preparing and devising these works. "The basic premise of fairy or fairy like beings telling fairy tales has been with me since 2017. So, in various ways it’s been floating around my brain for five years. But I’ve been writing, refining, and working on it over the last three years. I had been sitting on the idea of a troupe of fairy or fairy-like beings coming together to share, perform and act out fairy tales for a long time, but had struggled to find a way to start," they tell me.

Adam - Midsumma Festival review

Adam Kashmiry left Egypt, his home and country, at the age of 19. He travelled to Scotland to seek asylum in order so that he could live. Adam is a transgender man, and his journey of determination and hope is presented as part of the Midsumma Festival in France Poet's critically acclaimed Adam. 

Juan Gomez and Ollie Ayres both star as Adam, showing the complementary and contrasting nature of his personality, which links back to the contronyms (words that have two opposing meanings) that they discuss throughout the play. The opposite yet same "parts" of Adam struggle as they try to find a sense of wholeness. This fight becomes evident particularly when Adam begins taking his testosterone injections, and it is acted out powerfully and honestly.

Adam - Midsumma Festival preview

Adam Kashmiry risked being killed in order to live his life. The Egyptian born transgender man left his home and country at the age of 19 to seek asylum in Scotland for the opportunity to be himself. This extraordinary journey of resilience and strength was first performed at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and is now making its Australian premiere this Midsumma Festival.

It took director Jacob Thomas less than a second after they read the script to know they had to put this on. “Adam’s story is an experience you can easily disregard through one’s privilege, which is exactly why it's vital for our communities to hear this story, particularly as seeking asylum is still incredibly difficult for LGBTIQA+ people," they explain. "White, Western queers - myself included - can forget, perhaps conveniently, how our communities abroad are surviving. They’re getting by without pride parades, support systems and events such as Midsumma. That’s not to say we’re without struggle here in Australia, but more that we can’t ignore the realities of our global queer families. We can hold both our struggles and the struggle of others at the same time."

Estrogenesis - Next Wave Festival review

Transgender bodies, identity and environment serve as the focus of Embittered Swish's new work with their Next Wave Festival show, Estrogenesis. Taking on a technology themed approach to gender, the performance art piece explores what happens when you alter the 'hardware' of gender and what the ramifications of such an act are.

Performed by Mossy 333, Romy Fox, Bobuq Sayed and Mick Klepner Roe, we witness several scenes that delve into what it is to be trans through a variety of art mediums including spoken word, music and dance. There are some interesting issues and themes raised, including Sayed’s spoken word on the trans body and the differences that exist within the trans community.

I Am My Own Wife review | fortyfivedownstairs

The last song I expected to hear playing over the speakers as I entered the space for I Am My Own Wife, was "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. But the purpose is later made clear as we learn about the extraordinary and intriguing life of German transgender woman, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived both the Nazi and the Communist regime. While that might be a valid reason to admire her, it is not a guarantee that she was also a hero.

American playwright Doug Wright, travelled to Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and after a series of interviews with von Mahlsdorf totalling hundreds of hours, wrote I Am My Own Wife. Thus, the show is not just about von Mahlsdorf's life but also Wright's own role in this tale and the impact that the experience of trying to get inside the head of this enigmatic person had upon him.

I Am My Own Wife - Midsumma preview

Charlotte von Mahlsdorf was a German transvestite who survived the Nazis and the Communists and helped start the German gay liberation movement. Her story is so incredible that even while learning about it, you wouldn't be alone in thinking think that some of it has been made up, but you would be wrong. American playwright Doug Wright travelled to Berlin and after a series of interviews - totalling hundreds of hours  - with von Mahlsdorf talking about her extraordinary life, wrote I Am My Own Wife.

Since its premiere in 2003, the play has been performed around the world and throughout Australia, and during the 2017 Midsumma Festival, Melbourne audiences will have the opportunity to witness the fascinating story of Berlin's most notorious transgendered woman on stage.

How I Met My Son

A parent's love for a child should forever be unconditional, and that's exactly what Yolanda Bogert has displayed to her son Kai his entire life.Her new book How I Met My Son: A Story of Love that Transcends Gender looks at the moment when Bogert made worldwide news, when in December 2014, placed a birth notice in the Courier Mail.

It read: ‘A Retraction: In 1995 we announced the arrival of our sprogget, Elizabeth Anne, as a daughter. He informs us that we were mistaken. Oops! Our bad. We would now like to present, our wonderful son – Kai Bogert. Loving you is the easiest thing in the world. Tidy your room.’

How I Met My Son looks at that moment of accepting her transgender son and the impact the story had on their lives, ‘the sky didn’t fall, and our family didn’t fall apart. We just started using different pronouns. Oh, I had to change the name stored in my phone with his number. That was a bit of a pain,’ Bogert says.

Despite the positive awareness of transgender issues it raised, it is something that Bogert now regrets doing. One quick Google search of ‘Kai Bogert’ will quickly alert any potential employer of Kai’s transition, which means Kai will never ‘pass’ as being born male.

The launch of her first book coincides with International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and to celebrate, Bogert and her son Kai, will lead a panel discussion with a focus on parenting trans kids at Hares and Hyenas. The event will include parents and transgender people including head of Transgender Victoria, and winner of 2015's GLBTI Person of the Year award Sally Goldner and writer Fury.