I’ll vote for you, but I’ll resent it

My blog posts are usually shameless self-promotion for my theatre shows, same with Facebook. Instagram is for my baking pics and Twitter is usually a way to praise my favourite TV shows. But today I feel the need to write something quite political. It’s been eating away at me for months and I need to get it off my chest.

I have been a Labor voter for as long as I could be. As soon as I turned 18 and could vote, I did, for Labor. Federal, state and even local if there was a candidate. I remember getting very upset when Paul Keating was defeated. I remember celebrating loudly with an entire pub in Newtown, Sydney, when Kevin Rudd won. I even handed out pamphlets in John Howard’s electorate, hoping he’d be ousted. I liked the party, and I thought they liked me. I don’t think that anymore.

Earlier in the year there was a conscience vote for legalising gay marriage. It was defeated, embarrassingly. I had never felt like such a minority in my own country. There was a knot in my stomach that didn’t go away for ages, I felt like upset and angry. Then I hear of all these other countries legalising gay marriage, or marriage equality, and I am disgusted that my own country will not be allowing it anytime soon. Am I second class citizen?

My own local member, Labor’s Michael Danby, abstained from voting. It was just like voting no. I wanted answers, so I sent Facebook posts and emails asking for a reason. I received no correspondence back. So I went with a friend to his office. He wasn’t there, or if he was, he wasn’t going to speak to someone from his electorate about an issue. I proceeded to tell the man behind the counter why I was there. He seemed quite dismissive. When I told him for the first time I was considering not voting Labor, he literally laughed in my face, and said, “What are you gonna do, vote Liberal?” No, I wouldn’t do that, but I’m sure the Greens are more a threat in the seat of Port Melbourne than Liberal.

I left that office feeling angry and unsatisfied. A few days later I received an impersonal letter detailing Mr Danby’s public support for marriage equality. Apparently just not enough support to vote for it. Many people hide behind religious views for their discrimination. This includes my parent’s local member, Labor’s Ed Husic, who has flat out refused to ever vote for marriage equality. However I was taught by mother, a former Sunday School teacher, that people shouldn’t judge others and that God loves all his people. This was reinforced by my own Sunday School education. (Remarkably I was constantly a prize winner in my time at Sunday School, how the mighty have fallen.)

Here’s the religious kicker, our prime minister, who I’ve always been a big supporter of, is an atheist. So why won’t she support marriage equality? Apparently 64% of Australians support marriage equality. If the Labor party brought in marriage equality today there would 64% of the country who would say, “Well down”. That’s practically double their current approval rating. Seems strange to me.

I’m not looking for a lot, I just want what everyone else has. I want the opportunity to marry the person I choose. I am a proud gay man and if someday my boyfriend and I decide to get married, then we bloody well should be allowed to. Is it really too much to ask for?

So as September rolls around I will vote Labor. I am scared of the country we will become if Tony Abbott becomes Prime Minister. I look what Campbell Newman has done to Queensland, the slashing of funding to things I hold dear, and I worry what Abbott will do with the same power. So Mr Danby and Ms Gillard, I’ll vote for you, but I’ll resent it. And I am certainly not going to keep quiet anymore. Not until I can marry like everyone else.

                                                            My boyfriend Nick and I

                                                       Photo by Deborah Dorman-Halls

FLAME TREES, BUSHFIRES AND SENTIMENTAL BULLSHIT

I write, a lot. It’s work, and it’s a hobby. I’ve even dreamt about writing. In fact, I’m doing it right now. That means I end up producing a lot of theatre. Sometimes it means I finish a play, read it, and relegate it to a folder never to be seen by anyone ever again. It's better when that doesn't happen. I do remember an early play that had a ghost as the central character, I'm sure it's in a folder somewhere.

                                                          Photo by Sarah Candeland

My latest production is “Flame Trees” at Theatre Works in St Kilda. I don’t say latest play, cause let’s face it, I’m working on 10 other plays right now. “Flame Trees” is a play I’ve been wanting to write for years, and as with many of my big dramas I go back and forth with it. I think I probably wrote 15 pages a year for 4 years with this one. While I wasn’t always writing it, it was always in that black abyss I call my brain, burning away, thinking of new ways to carry on the story. I’m so glad I finally got it out and onto the page, because it’s a script I’m very proud of.

I have had an obsession with the Australian Outback, and continue it with this play. Bushfires have been the curse of many rural towns, and the one in the centre of “Flame Trees” is no different. One particularly savage fire ten years ago decimated the area and killed a young woman. A local woman, Tess, confessed to setting the fire and went to prison. All these years later she returns to town, and no one is very happy to see her. That’s the basic premise of the play, but of course there’s a lot more than just that. At the heart of the play is a relationship drama that poses the question, what do you do when someone you love does something so hideously out of character? Often it speaks to your own character, how you relate to those around you? My hope was to make a raw and emotional drama with relatable characters and a story that will keep the audience hooked.

The show is about to complete its debut run and audiences seemed to have really enjoyed the play, both the production and my script. It does give such amazing joy to me when people relate to the script. While I write because I have a story to tell, of course I want others to enjoy it as well.

So with just a few days to go, I’d ask if you’re in Melbourne, to come and see this great little play with an explosive story and an amazing cast – that just happens to feature me.

“Flame Trees” is on at Theatre Works St Kilda until Saturday March 16. Remaining shows are 8pm and tickets and info can be found at www.theatreworks.org.au

Me and My Ladies

I’ve always loved working with women. Let’s be honest, I’ve always preferred having female friends. I always told my Mum I don’t think I would have survived if I had to go to a boy’s school. Women just get me, and I seem to get them. (No wonder I’ve had such a chequered history dating men – until now). So a few years ago I created a show with a whole pile of women. 16 to be exact. Called “Hell Hath No Fury”, it was a big success for my company and I still list it as one of the favourite productions I’ve done.

Now all these years later, I am taking this massive journey again. With 16 amazing Melbourne actresses, we are entering week 2 of “Hell Hath No Fury”. And what a great time it has been again. These are wonderful ladies with some big talent. I already had a number of close friends in the cast, some of my closest friends in the world. Always great to spend that extra time with them. Then there’s the new ladies I met. Many will end up as good friends, you can always tell. Sounds like a love in, and it is, have had a great time with this show.

I was recently criticised by a woman because a man wrote this show. Should that be an issue? Why isn’t a man allowed to create a piece exclusively for ladies. Because I’m a man, does that really mean I can’t write a female character? I wrote for a killer once and didn’t go out and kill someone to find out how my character felt. I’ve never had sex with a woman, does that mean I can’t write straight men? And so forth. I think I get women just fine! This is a fun piece with a messages thrown in for good measure. There’s very few all female shows out there, so I’m going to continue to be proud to create this opportunity.

Independent theatre is getting harder and harder to publicise. With print media getting smaller and Facebook now wanting to charge for you to get your post to all your followers, it’s a bloody tough business. So if you’re in Melbourne, please come see this show. If you have friends, let them know about it. Let’s keep independent theatre alive and support this bloody good show that’s all about the ladies!

Show details and tickets: www.revoltproductions.com 

1 Way to Help 37 Ways

http://www.indiegogo.com/37ways?a=1721389

I’m making a feature film. Cue excited scream, then the nervous whimper. I’ve been doing theatre for so long, this is a genuinely and exciting idea. Naturally it’s an adaption of one of my plays, “37 Ways To Say I’m Gay”. It played earlier this year at Downstairs at Alma’s for Midsumma and was quite the unexpected success. After my wonderful co-star, friend and now co-producer Perri Cummings said, “This would make a great film”, an idea was born. We shook hands, she was co-producing and I was directing.

We shot a teaser a few months back and it got us all excited for what was coming. With 25 different stories and over 100 actors, this is going to be a major undertaking. We’re planning on shooting this little Indy feature as cheaply as possible, but we still need a fair bit, especially for the scenes set in the past. There’s even a scene during World War II in the trenches with gun fire and many wounded soldiers in costume.

This is an important story for me. As a proud gay man, I worry we don’t do enough to tell truly Australian gay stories. While acceptance seems to be getting better, we still have politicians too scared to seriously talk about gay marriage and equal rights. I can’t stand on the sidelines anymore, I need to take a stand. I want to tell this story because it seems like a great way to get wider acceptance. One of the first things people often ask you is about how you came out, well here’s a whole film about it.

Plus, we need more chances for our great actors and crews to work on stories with heart, and here is a great chance. I am chomping at the bit to shoot this next year.

So here’s where I stand, asking, very nicely, if you can please click the link to our Indie GoGo page, watch our fun little trailer and please donate some money. Any amount helps. While there is still over 100 days before it closes, I’m really looking to kick it off with some more funds.

Your help will truly be appreciated.

Brother, can you spare a dollar?

Theatre’s a hard business. You certainly don’t enter theatre to become rich. It can happen. Like you can be struck by lightning – it’s just rare. Making theatre, especially independent theatre is expensive. When patrons come, they still want a good quality production to compare with the big guns with big budgets, and trust me, as an independent producer – that’s what I want too. I just wish I had the budget. But it is incredible how much we are able to do on the smell of an oily rag.

Before we would hold fundraising nights and hope we could get people through the door or hit up businesses for sponsorship. Sometimes both would work, and then sometimes they would fail miserably. That’s why the rising popularity of crowd funding has been a true God send. It gives us an opportunity to have our friends, family, neighbours, work collegues, peers or just some random off the street, the opportunity to help fund the work we love so much. Even better is that people are able to donate whatever they can afford, with donations as little as $1 permitted, or of course a massive donation – if that’s what your heart desires.

So here I stand, hat in hand, asking if you are able to help my latest theatrical endeavour, “Hell Hath No Fury” – opening at Revolt in Melbourne in November. The play is a 16 women extravaganza set in a hairdressing salon. We are planning on building a realistic hairdressing salon on stage, equipped everything, including a sink (just not the kitchen one). It’ll hopefully be so good you can literally get your hair cut there.

We have a page at the moment with Pozible, a great site helping so many people. We have a total of $1700 we’re going for (we need to raise that money for any donations to be processed). After 2 days, we have basically raised $200, so a lot more money still needs to be pledged.

The link is www.pozible.com/hellhathnofury - please help us out and keep independent theatre a strong and viable art form. And plus, I’ll think you’re pretty tops!

Wayne

The 16 Meet

                                        The cast in a crudely taken photo at the 1st read


So my next theatrical endeavour is the Melbourne premiere of my 16 women opus, “Hell Hath No Fury”. Yes you read right, 16 women. I did this show once before in Sydney and it was truly one of the most rewarding experiences of my life – I made life long friends from that show.

So the pressure was on me when casting. Some actresses were precast, and some came via auditions (you can always guarantee when you have roles for young women there will be many to choose from during auditions). In the end I was pleased with the casting, but nothing could be certain until we got them together . A few actresses mentioned they were a little nervous meeting that many other cast members – I was just genuinely excited. And it wasn’t a let down, we met, we shared strange facts about each other and we laughed. Mostly importantly we read the play and the cast already sounded great. It was such a wonderful thing hearing the words again. The last production fading away and these ladies becoming these great characters.

So now rehearsals begin, well if I can ever get the schedule for 17 people sorted. There should be a lot of fun to be had, but also some hard work. All in preparation for bringing you an awesome show this November.

Wayne

Visit "His Room"

                                             Photo by Bob Seary

It seems so very long ago I wrote the play, “His Room”. It would have been 2006 when I was writing it. It had been a story I had in mind for so long. Infact, the first play I ever wrote back in year 4 was called, “The Lost Boy”. I seemed to have this unusual paranoia as a child that I’d be adducted. This seemed to manifest in my mind for many years before I wrote this play about a lost child who never came home and his family haven’t been able to move on.

“So what’s better, to be dead and loved, or alive and invisible?”

I’ve looked at putting on the show before, but have never found the right home. This seemed like such an important work to me and I wanted it to be nurtured. As someone who writes a lot of comedy, this painful drama felt like it needed special treatment. Then when the opportunity for the True West season at my old stomping ground, Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre, came up – it seemed perfect.

I’d talked to the talented Liane Norman about directing this play for years, as we’ve been looking for the right project to work on together. I’ve always knew I wanted Lynden Jones and Christine Greenough as Steve and Maggie respectively. I admire them both so much, both as people and actors and knew they were what was needed for these tough roles. Add to the mix, Amanda Marsden, Gabriel McCarthy and Barton Williams; and there’s an amazing little ensemble.

I was fortunate enough to travel back to Sydney, stay in my childhood home and see the show 4 times last week. Wow did I weep. The production was heartbreaking. I felt very fortunate that so many of my wonderful friends came to see the show, even some flying up from Melbourne to see it.
So there’s only 3 shows left over the next 2 days. There may be a lot going on in Sydney this weekend with Fringe, but do yourself a favour – head to Parramatta and see my heart on the stage. Also you’ll see some powerhouse performances.

“And somehow he’ll find his way back to me, back to his rightful home.”