DIRECTOR
Presented by Cameron Lukey and Don't Be Down Productions
fortyfivedownstairs (as part of 2018 Midsumma Festival), February 2018
and Seymour Centre, Sydney (as part of 2018 Mardi Gras Festival), February 2018
A funny and moving Australian classic from the playwright of Holding the Man
Shane has fled his family and is seeking refuge in Sydney's Kings Cross. Confused and naive, Shane struggles to reconcile himself with events from his past. But how can he move on when he can't even use laundry powder?
Peter: Simon Burke
Shane: Wil King
Will/Ben: Guy Simon
Producers: Cameron Lukey and Andy Johnston
Stage Manager: Cassandra Fumi
Set and Costume Design: Abbie Lea Hough
Lighting Design: Rob Sowinski
Associate Lighting Design: Bryn Cullen
Sound Design: Raya Slavin
Publicity Photography: Theresa Harrison
Graphic Design: Albany Wong
NOMINEE
Best Supporting Actor (Independent Theatre) for Simon Burke
Sydney Theatre Awards 2018
★★★★
"It’s a gay coming-of-age story so funny and tender and wild, and so beautifully acted, that anyone might recognise and connect with it."
Cameron Woodhead, The Age
★★★★
"This is a gem of a play well worth revisiting in a production that allows it to sparkle."
Joyce Morgan, Sydney Morning Herald
★★★★
"Strangers in Between is very much about a time that’s slipped through our fingers with startling speed. But the story at its core about our innate human need for family, support and personal connections – particularly for those who find it difficult to find these things in their biological family – won’t feel dated anytime soon."
Ben Neutze, Time Out Sydney
Photography: Sarah Walker
Directors Notes
The concept of family means something different within the LGBTQQIA community. There is the family we are born into, one that hopefully will love and support us but in some cases will not or cannot. And then there is the family we create for ourselves, a support network to replace or strengthen what we already have. Writer Armistead Maupin described this as the ‘logical family’, writing that “Sooner or later, though, no matter where in the world we live, we must join the diaspora, venturing beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us.”
Discovering Strangers in Between in my early 20’s was a foundational moment in my understanding of myself as a theatre maker and as a gay man. For the first time, I heard the voice of my generation in Shane, of myself and my friend trying to work out how the world around us worked and where we fit in it. This was the kind of story I wanted to hear and to tell, and to be directing it now is a dream come true. Returning to it for this production though, I was struck by something I’d not noticed before, that at its heart this play is also about that concept of logical family and how vital it can be in the midst of personal and social turmoil.
The queer community in Australia has suffered enormously over the past few years. We’ve been told we don’t matter, that our way of life and our personal connections aren’t important, that the young members of our community aren’t worth helping and our elders aren’t worth remembering. I can think of no better mo- ment to return to this beautiful play. What Strangers in Between reminds us is how important it is for us to hold together, to take care and support one another. Through the miracle of Tommy’s writing, it continues to speak to us, to bridge the gap between generations and communities. It is a play whose heart is wholly good.
If that isn’t enough of a reason to consider it an Australian classic, I don’t know what is.
