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!"

Milo Hartill on being seen, heard, and unapologetically funny | Misumma Festival | Chapel Off Chapel

Milo Hartill’s show Black, Fat and Fa**y is a bold, joyful exploration of cabaret, storytelling, and lived experience of being a Black, fat, and queer person. In it, Hartill draws on humour, music, and personal insight to tackle both the hard and fun parts of life, delivering a production that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. In this interview, Hartill reflects on how their identities have moulded the stories she tells, the decisions behind what makes it into the show, and the delicate balance of revealing her own truths while keeping audiences engaged, laughing, and thinking differently.
 
At the heart of the show is Hartill’s reality of moving through the world as a Black, fat, queer person, and how that intersection of identities informs not only how she is seen and treated, but the tales, humour, and honesty she brings to the stage. "The life I lead and how I am treated is because of these markers - Black, fat, and queer - and it is endlessly impactful to the way I present myself and my stories," she says. "It influences how I see society in a multitude of ways and to see the best and worst of people. It shows me the gravity of people's bias, opinions, and assumptions, how finding and cultivating community can be life-changing, and how I have to work way harder than most to hit the same goal posts. It also shapes the way I view politics, as many factors in life and politics that barely affect privileged people will almost always affect me in some way. It determines how willing people are to hire me for jobs, depending on how the majority of people feel about brown, fat, and queer people."