Queer As Flux
ABOUT THE SHOW
Autobiography meets activism as multi-award winning trans-masculine writer/actor, Zac Callaghan travels through time paying homage to trail-blazing Trans-cestors, not-so-queer ancestors and the finned and four-legged who depend on us. Queer as Flux playfully incorporates pivotal transitional moments from Zac’s birth to the present including: life-altering accidents, surgeries and near-death experiences; loves and losses; their mother’s dementia; their father’s transition to her care-giver; and up-close, other-worldly encounters with whales.
Envision the lovechild of Hannah Gadsby’s Nannette and Bo Burnham’s Inside… on testosterone and diagnosed with ADHD… then imagine they’ve been raised by RuPaul and David Attenborough… now add someone whose preferred foreplay is wordplay and favourite dick is the dictionary and you have 75 minutes that’s as Queer as Flux!
This uplifting solo performance by Zac and long-term collaborator and multi-award-winning director Leah Mercer is a heartwarming reminder that transitioning isn’t new – everybody always does it! Whatever letter of the LGBTQIA+ alphabet you identify with, you’ll feel glad you came.
PART OF MELT FESTIVAL
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Founded in 2004, The Nest Ensemble is a dynamic collective of theatre artists who generate performances and workshops that deal in ideas, imagination and transformation of ourselves and our environment. We seek to create a theatre of risk and compassion by engaging in constructive and generative conversations that build connectedness and sustainability.
Zac Callaghan is a trans-masculine, queer playwright and actor. Zac’s one-person plays include still raw; when i was a boy; between heaven & earth; and Queer as Flux. Each play had multiple, critically-acclaimed seasons, with Queer as Flux performed at Sydney Opera House, Brisbane Powerhouse, Theatre Works (Midsumma Festival) and The Blue Room Theatre (Perth). Queer as Flux won the Audience Engagement Award and Judge’s Award for Skillful Performance (TBRT, 2021) and Outstanding Achievement by an Interstate Artist – Theatre (PAWA Awards 2022). Co-written plays with The Nest Ensemble include The Knowing of Mary Poppins and Wanderings (commissioned by Australian Plays Transform and Pride Foundation Australia), which was nominated for The Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work (Matilda Awards 2024). Zac is co-founder of The Joy Dispensary!
As co-founder of The Nest Ensemble (with Margi Brown Ash), Leah Mercer has directed Wanderings, Queer as Flux (nominated Best Director – Independent Production, PAWA 2022), Eve, Home, Joey: the Mechanical Boy, The Knowing of Mary Poppins, wrote/performed A Mouthful of Pins and won Best Director (Performing Arts WA, 2014) and a Silver Matilda (Directing, 2007). Her other directing credits include: The Hardest Way to Make an Omelette by Jessica Harlond-Kenny with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (Fremantle Festival, 2013); The Physics Project (Practice-led PhD at QUT), (Winner, Philip Parsons’ Prize 2008); between heaven & earth by Zac (Stace) Callaghan (Brisbane Powerhouse, 2006). She coordinates Theatre Arts at Curtin University and is on the board of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Western Australia.
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PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES
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TICKETS
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Suitable for 15+
Children under the age of two are not permitted; all other ages must hold a valid ticket
Contains adult themes
Contains parital nudity
Contains coarse language
Contains sexual references
Contains drug references
References to surgical procedures
ACCESSIBILITY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Founded in 2004, The Nest Ensemble is a dynamic collective of theatre artists who generate performances and workshops that deal in ideas, imagination and transformation of ourselves and our environment. We seek to create a theatre of risk and compassion by engaging in constructive and generative conversations that build connectedness and sustainability.
Zac Callaghan is a trans-masculine, queer playwright and actor. Zac’s one-person plays include still raw; when i was a boy; between heaven & earth; and Queer as Flux. Each play had multiple, critically-acclaimed seasons, with Queer as Flux performed at Sydney Opera House, Brisbane Powerhouse, Theatre Works (Midsumma Festival) and The Blue Room Theatre (Perth). Queer as Flux won the Audience Engagement Award and Judge’s Award for Skillful Performance (TBRT, 2021) and Outstanding Achievement by an Interstate Artist – Theatre (PAWA Awards 2022). Co-written plays with The Nest Ensemble include The Knowing of Mary Poppins and Wanderings (commissioned by Australian Plays Transform and Pride Foundation Australia), which was nominated for The Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work (Matilda Awards 2024). Zac is co-founder of The Joy Dispensary!
As co-founder of The Nest Ensemble (with Margi Brown Ash), Leah Mercer has directed Wanderings, Queer as Flux (nominated Best Director – Independent Production, PAWA 2022), Eve, Home, Joey: the Mechanical Boy, The Knowing of Mary Poppins, wrote/performed A Mouthful of Pins and won Best Director (Performing Arts WA, 2014) and a Silver Matilda (Directing, 2007). Her other directing credits include: The Hardest Way to Make an Omelette by Jessica Harlond-Kenny with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (Fremantle Festival, 2013); The Physics Project (Practice-led PhD at QUT), (Winner, Philip Parsons’ Prize 2008); between heaven & earth by Zac (Stace) Callaghan (Brisbane Powerhouse, 2006). She coordinates Theatre Arts at Curtin University and is on the board of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Western Australia.
