From ‘Heartstopper,’ to ‘Love Simon’ and ‘First Kill,’ the world of LGBTQ+ media has long celebrated and romanticised the highs of the gay experience. Despite making leaps and bounds in representation, modern queer media often presents a narrow view of the complex trials and tribulations of the queer experience.
That’s what the cast and crew of ‘2AM’ hopes to highlight with their new play. Written and directed by Meanjin-based creative Jason Damot (they/he), the production explores the true complexity of a gay relationship. It chronicles the relationship of two highschool sweethearts, Bryan and Martin, and the ultimate dissolution of their love after an affair.
Damot said the play, which they began writing in 2019, offered an important foil to the usual queer happy ending.
“The thing that I noticed in a lot of romantic fiction is heterosexual couples will have everything… there’s hundreds of stories for every trope,” they said.
“Whereas for queer couples, it’s always a happy ending. That’s all that we get. We only have such basic, surface level ideas for what a queer couple can be.”
They said the project was a true labour of passion which hopes to offer an alternative, realistic view of the queer experience.
“What I want an audience member to take away from this is that at the end of the day, it’s a very human story. This is something that happens,” they said.
“It’s such a universal experience of heartbreak – it’s not sensationalised, it’s not exaggerated. It is raw.”
Actor Rad Valance (they/them), who is in their first year of acting at Queensland
University of Technology (QUT) plays Bryan, the protagonist of the play.
As the ‘victim’ of the circumstances which play out, Bryan represents an idealised view of love. Valance said they are excited to portray the character and shed light on what they believe is an important issue.
“We haven’t even scraped the surface when it comes to experiences that differ from the straight norm,” they said.
“To put on display a queer relationship that starts beautifully, and then to have it decline, it represents something new.”
Valance said that they hope the play will imbue audiences with a sense of solidarity with their character.
"What I want people to take away from this experience would be that things are not always what they seem," they said.
"As much as you reassure yourself that everything is going to be okay, the hardest thing is to accept when it isn't - and then the next hardest thing is to move on."
The play will premiere as part of Vena Cava Productions’ Freshblood Festival next week at the Ron Hurley Theatre in Seven Hills.
Tickets to '2AM' are available through the Freshblood Festival.