Mon 11 Aug 2008 In: Performance View at Wayback View at NDHA
"Andrew loves Jeremy. Jeremy loves Andrew, but won't admit it. Jeremy likes to fool around with Kevin. Cheryl thinks she loves Kevin, and is having his baby. Kevin loves himself. Then along comes Denis to fuck it all up..." After a well-received one-off première performance on K' Road last month, gay theatre writer/director Patrick Graham brings his new play White Trash Omnibus toAuckland Uni's Maidment Theatre stage this week. "I wanted to write about a group of gay men that normally don't show up in New Zealand theatre," Graham explains. They are all not necessarily positive role models. "I'd had enough of the Will and Grace style of 'gay' men - I was getting sick of the way gay men were being portrayed on television and in films as literally neutered 'camp' queens. I wanted to see real people from New Zealand with problems and failings. Set in South Auckland where Graham grew up, the tragi-comic story follows two brothers "who think they love the same man". "Two of the actors playing gay men are straight and they have taken to the challenge, working hard at giving honest and truthful performances," the director says. Describing the characters as 'white trash', Graham reveals the production will be R18 as it contains violence, sex scenes and references that may offend. There's already been a complaint: "a student at the University wanted to know why South Auckland always had to be portrayed like 'this'." White Trash Omnibus will be staged at the Maidment Theatre's Musgrove Studio from this Wednesday 13 August through until Saturday 16 August. Book by calling the Maidment on 09 308 2383, or online at the link below. Matt Akersten - 11th August 2008