Unveiling: Gay Sex for Endtimes  | The Blue Room | Until Nov 25  | ★ ★ ★ ★ 

18-11-17 Update: Regrettably the remainder of the season has been cancelled.

The latest production from Renegade Productions and director Joe Hooligan Lui comes with a warning.

Prior to entering the theatre patrons are given fair notice that the show is filled with violence, coarse language, adult concepts, full nudity, a smoke machine, strobe lighting and raw eggs. 

Those who choose seats in the front row face the risk of being hit with a splattering of fake blood and semen, and very real eggs. The show runs for 60 minutes, there’s no entrance for latecomers and no re-admittance if you leave the theatre.

A piece which at one point features a naked man, on a bed, on his hands and knees, repetitively screaming “fuck me” is not your usual night at the theatre.

A philosophy spouting locust performs a strip tease, Judy Garland brings all the ‘Friends of Dorothy’ together, plus there’s strap on dildos, and all the fore mentioned blood, semen and eggs – and trust me, I’m not letting the best stuff out of the bag. We’ve only scratched the surface. 

This is a theatre you have to see, you may find it offensive, you may find it hilarious, it’s certainly provocative.

It’s self referential, maybe too many jokes for the theatre in-crowd. Sometimes it’s distorted and filled with incomprehensible shouting, maybe it’s meant to be that way. It could be suggested that it’s just art-wank, or maybe it’s genius. It’s such a thin line between the two.  

Earlier this week a friend asked if I’d seen Joe Hooligan Lui’s production of I Am My Own Wife at Black Swan State Theatre Company, I said I had, and praised its quality.

We pondered how the director we’d seen do an outrageous Blue Room show a few years ago had been tamed for mainstream theatre; where had all that weirdness gone?

Now we know where it was channeled – it’s all here. Buckets and spades of it. 

The show describes itself as a perverse reading of the Book of Revelation, an examination of annihilation and redemption.

You could have a serious discussion about its themes and messages, or you could down a few shots, turn to your theatre going companions and say “That was beautifully bizarre”. Both responses are valid.

Huge respect for actors Michelle Aitken, Jacinta Larcombe and Andrew Sutherland – who deliver bold, brave and unforgiving performances.

Graeme Watson