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.

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.