Alex Riley is a 40 year-old gay, erotic fiction writer who wakes up one morning to find his penis is gone. Have we got your attention yet?
“Alex is... pretty prevalent on Instagram and Facebook and is a bit of a B-list celebrity,” explains actor Walter Hanna, who portrays Alex. “He wakes up in the morning of his 40th birthday to find his penis missing. He then goes to several people for help; he goes to his parents, and then his boss, his ex-boyfriend and the guy he's just started seeing, and they all sort of offer something but it's not exactly what Alex really needs.
“He ends up going to the sexual health clinic and meets a Japanese doctor called Dr Akiyama who is a bit of a creep and wants to make him into a case study, like make him famous as the man who lost his dick, so Alex doesn't want that. It's about him finding where it's gone: maybe it's psychological? Is it physical? Whether or not the problem is resolved at the end of the play, well, we'll see what happens there.”
The misadventures of Alex and his wayward penis form the central premise of 'Gone', which was written and directed by playwright Dion Teasdale and won the 2015 Playtime National Queer Theatre Competition. Although the story has an initially humorous pretext, 'Gone' asks an extremely pertinent question in the age of social media: 'In a world dominated by dating apps, naked selfies and muscle workshops, what happens to a gay man and his ability to connect with others when his sexual power is diminished?'
“It's definitely got some very funny moments, but it's certainly not a stand-up comedy show... There's a lot of great character work, especially from the other performers who are playing at least 4 or 5 characters each, and they're all playing these regular to larger-than-life, over-the-top characters and it's about Alex dealing with all these insane people coming and going throughout the day of his 40th birthday.”
Far from being a one-dimensional exercise in self-indulgent theatre, 'Gone' challenges audiences to consider how we go about forming meaningful relationships in a world obsessed with youth, appearance and size, an issue which affects nearly all people regardless of gender and sexuality.
“It goes so much further beyond that,” states Walter, “it speaks volumes to the insecure 18-year-old female who is probably dressing differently to what she normally would if no one else was watching her. It speaks on a larger realm, Alex's world and losing his penis is just a microcosm, it speaks of larger strokes of culture today, that we do spend the vast majority of our time not interacting with one another.”After a premiere run in Melbourne, 'Gone' will be performed at the Powerhouse Theatre in Brisbane this February as part of Melt Festival. Launched last year, Melt is a celebration of national queer arts and culture and Walter says audiences from all walks of life will enjoy and find something relatable in the show.
“For the conservative theatre-goer there is story and character and everything else; for the gay audience member they can identify with these different characters. There's a lovely character in it, Alex's father, who is a butcher and a very sweet, tender man and there's really nice characters; it's an enjoyable show to watch and I think it has a large audience potential.”
Looking ahead, Walter is keen for the show to be developed further for a tour into regional Australia in an effort to cultivate understanding and appreciation of the significant role of queer art and culture in our finely-woven national social fabric.
“It's about becoming part of the wider community,” he says. “I'd be very interested if some of these festivals could take the shows to regional areas because it's all well and wonderful, we almost all want gay marriage to go through now – but I don't want that for myself, I want that for the teenager in Albany in Western Australia who gets bullied at school.
“What sort of message are we sending our children if we have these sorts of theatre festivals and someone from overseas can come to Australia for a month and go to Melbourne then Brisbane and see nothing but queer shows and art installations? It's quite wonderful I think. We have the Australian Open and we have these other things, and I think diversity is always wonderful and it should be celebrated.”
'Gone' plays Brisbane Powerhouse 11-13 February as part of MELT Festival which runs 3-14 February.
