A love story between a twenty-year-old student and a sixty-year-old business mentor is explored in a new short play on stage in Auckland's Ellerslie Theatre until this weekend. Andrew a one-act play which shows gay businessman Andrew met and fell in love with young student Jacob. "He is at a point in his life where he needs to make decisions about their relationship and even whether there can be a relationship at all," playwright David Blakey tells GayNZ.com. The play's title is ironic. "Throughout the play, people fail to communicate - an online messenger service cannot convey the subtleties of what people try to say to each other. Conversations with friends are guarded and the friends may not reveal how they really feel. People do not ask the questions that they should ask. Only one person delivers a clear and honest message, and it is not a message that the listener wants to hear." Blakey, who also plays Andrew on stage, says he wrote the play in part to challenge gay men's stereotypes about each other. "Andrew and Jacob do not fit into the stereotype where sugar-daddies and rent-boys prey on each other, but they fear being labelled as having that kind of relationship." Communication continues as part of the AMI Ellerslie One Act Play Festival on Friday 28 August at 8pm and on Saturday 29 August at 2pm. Stables Theatre is in the Ellerslie War Memorial Hall, on the corner of Main Highway and Arthur Street. For bookings, phone 525 3336, and there's more information on the Ellerslie Theatrical Society's website.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Thursday, 27th August 2009 - 3:18pm