A fictional account of a male escort hired by a player from football’s English Premiership will be brought to the stage in one of the shared Auckland Pride Festival and Auckland Fringe shows in February. Away From Home is a one-man show, centred on the story of Kyle, a male escort who is hired by a premiership footballer – who he falls in love with. It delves into whether he can maintain a relationship with a closeted footballer in a country where not one professional player is out. The play will be at the Herald Theatre from 17 - 21 February, its first performances outside the UK or Ireland since it debuted at Manchester’s 2014 24:7 Theatre Festival. It’s since been to Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, the Brighton Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, among others. Away From Home was co-written by Rob Ward and Martin Jameson, who have a background in theatre, TV and radio, with Casualty, Emmerdale, Holby City and a number of BBC Radio 4 dramas listed among their credits. Ward plays the role of male-escort Kyle, while Jameson directs the work. The work has won a number of awards, including Best Play at 24:7, Best New Play at the Manchester Theatre Awards 2014, and for his performances at Jermyn Street Theatre, Ward has been nominated for a 2015 Off-West End Award for Best Actor. A panel discussion on ‘Stigma around Homosexuality in Sport’ will be held after the Wednesday 18 February show. Tickets are on sale here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 16th December 2014 - 11:55am