Sydney play heads to New York

A play by gay Sydney playwright Nicholas Coyle has been invited to take part in the New York International Fringe Festival.

Coyle wrote the musical comedy, The October Sapphire, while finishing an arts degree at the University of Sydney.

It was just a way for us to have one last hurrah, Coyle, who also directed the production, said.

It was a farewell to being ridiculous before we all went out and got real jobs. But here we are now, doing it internationally.

The university first staged the play at The Edge Theatre in September 2004. Due to popular demand there was a second season in 2005 at the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst, which sold out.

The production was invited to the New York International Fringe Festival, on in August, after organisers saw a DVD of the play.

The absurdist premise of The October Sapphire involves a 1930s movie star who lives in a crumbling mansion with a puppet and a magic sapphire that contains a genie who grants wishes.

Different people visit the house, such as an American teen runaway, an Australian male nurse with whom the star is in love, and her gay nephew who’s trying to kill her for putting him in a Swiss boarding school.

It’s not Brecht or Tolstoy, Coyle admitted. It’s a ridiculous premise.

Being asked to New York was completely unexpected, he said.

We’re all incredibly excited and really, really raring to go. We just need the money to get all of us over. There’s nine in the cast so we need to get sponsorship.

A number of fundraising events are being organised to get the cast to the Big Apple, including a party on 19 June at The Victoria Room in Darlinghurst.

A number of big names from the local music scene are slated to perform on the night, including Paul Capsis.

In the meantime Coyle is busy working on his latest script about gay zombies.

It’s about zombies who still have a dull memory of their former life, he said.

And Kylie still has an influence even beyond the grave.