Does romance still exist in the digital age or have social networking apps such as Tinder and Grindr ruined the old fashioned date? It’s these kind of questions that Gavin Roach explores in his one-man show ‘Confessions Of A Grindr Addict’.
Gavin's boy-meets-Grindr-meets-world performance will be showing as part of Brisbane’s very first MELT Festival at Brisbane's Powerhouse. Melt will be about celebrating the very best of Queer arts and culture and will coincide with Sydney’s gay and lesbian Mardi Gras.
In ‘Confessions Of A Grindr Addict’, Gavin plays Felix; the aforementioned addict of the title, a young gay man who is finally invited to go on a date with a man who he didn’t meet on Grindr. “It’s all weird and new and different and the world of dating seems obscure to him because he is used to doing everything online.”
Leading up to the date, comedic problems ensure. For those unaware of what Grindr is, it is a smartphone application geared towards gay, bisexual or bi-curious men which allows users to chat and find men who use also the app and are within a close distance.
When talking about the writing of the show, Gavin admits that the character of Felix is actually his alter ego. “He is definitely based on myself a lot; a lot of my anxieties, thoughts and fears and humor. He is kind of my way to sort of step back and have a look at situations I've been in online. How I have personally interacted with the application and with certain people. It's a way of taking my personal experiences and giving them to a whole other person to play with, interpret and present. It's a really good blending of my own stories and then dramatizing them for the stage.”
Very much being a comedic take on the dating world of the modern gay man, Gavin also thinks his show provides a light commentary on the way we all seek perspective partners now. “It seems to be rarer and rarer that you'll feel confident enough to approach someone, or if someone approaches you, because these apps have made it so much easier… I think sometimes being online so much, especially with dating apps, you can kid yourself that its turning into something [real] but you're really just having a conversation with your phone; that person isn't actually there, none of the emotion or the intonations; you're giving yourself that. You're putting it onto the dialogue that is coming back to you, so the show kind of touches lightly on that.”In a time where everyone is obsessed with never having enough time, Gavin thinks there are still positives to using apps such as Grindr and Tinder. “I've meet countless people on [Grindr] that I never would of met in any other social situations, as we just ran in different social circles, or went to different places or had different interests… So it's a good way to start and to broaden the people that you might meet. I think staying on there, interacting for so long, can sometimes have a bit of a negative effect.”
So will ‘Confessions Of A Grindr Addict’ be the last time we hear from Gavin’s alter ego? “'Confessions' has its own sequel called 'Any Womb Will Do' which is based on the same character and the idea of him wanting a baby. How does a 30-year-old single man have a child? That work explores the issues that comes with that. But it would be interesting to do ‘Confessions 2’, where you would see how that character interacts with the app five years down the track. That would be something that I would like to explore.”
'Confessions Of A Grindr Addict' plays Brisbane Powerhouse's Melt Festival 13 and 14 February.
