'This one person play follows the school-hood to adulthood journey of a teenage boy, positioned as a reluctant bystander to sexism and social injustice, watching, 'all in good fun' conversations perpetuate and prove, malicious and unnerving.
'Each space, the train, the classroom, the PE changerooms, emanates a silent, slow ooze of masculinity and entitlement. And so too, each space is revealed for what it is: Locker room talk is misogyny; disdain to the queer community is transphobic; staring eyes are predatory; and pathetically justified displays of affection are assault. And the notions that permit such actions, sentiments such as brotherhood are dismantled. Because it is not, boys being boys, it is the reason why one in three women experience abuse.
'This story provides insight into not only the male gaze that is unruly, and abusive, but the male gaze that is the silent bystander. Together with the main character we learn the causes rather than the effects of the slippery slope of abuse. And together we struggle to accept and understand the agonising 'everyday-ness' of sexism, and realise that in doing nothing we permit and encourage injustice to occur. Be a part of the process of reflection and the change that comes from it, dissect and disapprove, consider and catalyse, as you watch, un-interrupted, the implosive and destructive nature of boys, sadly, ... being boys.'
Source: Melbourne Fringe.
Presented at the Rubber Chicken as part of Melbourne Fringe, 11-12 October 2022.
Director: Niranjanan Sriganeshwaran.
Cast: Niranjanan Sriganeshwaran.