Midsumma to tune into the ‘Gays of our Lives’

AFTER seeing a lot of straight-oriented improvisational comedy, four gay men decided to put their own camp spin on the art form the best way they knew how: a completely improvised soap opera called ‘Gays of our Lives’.

The show will run as part of Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival and will find the four gay improvisers creating an episode of ‘Gays of our Lives’ on stage.

The cast includes Marcus Willis (Misguided, The Sparrow Men), Andy Balloch (The Sparrow Men, The Bell Shakespeare Company), Justin Porter (Laugh Masters’ Academy), and Shea Evans (The Improv Conspiracy, Soothplayers).

Evans said the group came up with the idea after seeing a lot of improvisational comedy that focused on straight people.

“It came from watching a lot of improv that was very straight-oriented,” he said.

“We’re four gay men and we have stories, so we thought why not play to our stories through the art form?

“That’s how it kind of came about, and we decided to make it a soap opera so we could make it camp and ridiculous.”

The four improvisers have promised audiences the show will include evil twins, double crosses, and plenty of champagne.

Evans said they’ll naturally use a lot of common tropes from people’s favourite soap operas.

He added that members of the LGBTI community tend to gravitate towards the drama of soap operas for many reasons.

“I would say they do because it’s much more heightened than every day normal drama and everyday life,” he said.

“People that are part of the LGBT community tend to have experiences that aren’t like the everyday and these can be dramatic.

“The drama of coming out is a massive one but once you get over it you can look back and realise you probably overreacted and that’s where the love of soap operas and drama comes from – LGBTI people can see themselves in those overreactions.”

Evans said it’s been a lot of fun working with the other three men on the show, as they all come from different improv backgrounds, and he believes audiences are in for a treat.

“Anyone and everyone that loves a good soap opera should come along – we don’t make it specifically for queer or gay people, the themes in soap operas are for everyone,” he said.

Gays of our Lives will be staged on February 1 and 4 at 9.30PM in Level 1 Studios – Level 1, 377 Bourke Street. To book tickets visit http://www.midsumma.org.au/.