If you’re after a Heated Rivalry fix in the flesh, look no further

THEATRE
MIDSUMMA | Afterglow ★★★★
Chapel Off Chapel, until February 21

Gay sex has a pop-cultural currency that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Think of all those comments about Heated Rivalry clogging up your feed. It can’t be only gay and bisexual men who were aroused by raunchy encounters between closeted hockey players in the show, or it wouldn’t have been such a huge phenomenon. In fact, women consume almost half of all gay male porn on Porn Hub, and as we enter an age of increasing heteropessimism, it seems homoeroticism has become flavour of the month.

That’s good news for S. Asher Gelman’s Afterglow. The play bears the tagline “the climax is just the beginning”, and true to its word, starts in flagrante, with a gay male threesome nuzzling and pashing each other, post-coitally entwined.

If you’re jonesing for a Heated Rivalry fix in the flesh, look no further. The show comes fully stocked in the eye candy department, with liberal displays of full-frontal male nudity (the most I have seen onstage since Puppetry of the Penis).

All three actors are intimidatingly hot and ripped. Gym-toned physiques. Washboard abs. Bubble butts. And the characters are unabashedly sexual, with tastefully choreographed erotica underpinning Gelman’s relationship drama.

Scientist Alex (Julian Curtis) and his theatre director husband, Josh (Matthew Mitcham – yes, the Olympic gold medallist), are a Manhattan gay couple in an open marriage.

They seem to have it all. They’re handsome, successful and loaded – and they have a commitment to starting a family together, expecting their first child via surrogacy in a few months.

Their equilibrium is fractured when Josh desires something more than a casual fling with their latest playmate, Darius (Matthew Predny), a younger massage therapist.

Alex consents to his partner’s new “friend with benefits” arrangement, with a veto if it starts to make him feel threatened or uncomfortable. Josh fails to inform his husband of a crucial detail, while seeking to avoid confronting marital difficulties or disappointments in his newfound passion for Darius. Darius genuinely falls for Josh and is torn between desire for what he cannot have and appal that the love triangle he’s entered is causing unintended distress.

The set is modular genius that’d put IKEA designers to shame (and allows for steamy shower scenes). And the performances are strong and likeable, lending a charismatic gloss to the unfolding melodrama, even if the underlying emotional dynamics aren’t always fully and precisely articulated.

As an examination of modern polyamory, the play is a touch predictable and superficial for my taste. Yet it does have the advantage of being broadly relatable – whether you’re gay or straight or something in between – and remains non-judgmental about the various forms contemporary relationships may take.

If there’s a message, it’s that you can get hurt no matter what kind of romance your heart leads you to pursue. You’ll be forgiven if you get distracted from it, though, by the sensuality of the sex scenes and the way Afterglow plugs so directly into the homoerotic zeitgeist.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

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