Out Australian Diver Matthew Mitcham To Make UK Stage Acting Debut

Out Australian diver Matthew Mitcham will make his stage acting debut in the UK, late this year.

The Olympic gold medalist will play two characters (Ben/Will) in a revival of the theatre production of Strangers in Between.

During the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, Mitcham, 35, became the first out gay Olympian to win a gold medal.

‘Finally Broken Into British Theatre’

In a post to Instagram, Mitcham wrote, “I’ve finally broken into British Theatre!.. playing not one but TWO characters.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Matthew Mitcham OAM (@matthewmitcham88)

According to Theatre Weekly, Strangers in Between is an Australian classic written by Tommy Murphy, “bursting with laugh-out-loud one-liners, simmering sexual tension and heartfelt confessions.”

Following Shane, a man who flees his regional town and moves to Sydney. Once in Sydney he is free to live as his true self.  It examines Queer chosen families as well as the highs and lows of growing up gay in modern rural Australia.

The production will run from September 19 to October 7 at the Golden Goose Theatre in London.

In 2006, Strangers in Between won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Best Play. 

Coming To Terms With His Sexuality

Coming to terms with being gay was difficult for Mitcham.

In a February 2021 interview with BBC Sport, he revealed that he would snap a rubber band on his wrist to try and train himself out of being gay.

“I was so scared of [being gay] that I would actually tie a rubber band around my wrist and every time I had a gay thought I would snap it, to try and associate pain and suffering with the gay thought. To try and train myself out of being gay,” he said.

Came Out ‘Inadvertently’

Months before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he came out to the media after inadvertently revealing to Sydney Morning Herald that he was living with his boyfriend.

At the time he said, “I was scared about the response, but going into the Olympics I didn’t want the Australian public to think of me one way – as straight – and then have to come out afterwards, feeling like I’d lied to them.

“I thought it might mean I had no supporters, but the response was fantastic and I gained this enormous colourful worldwide community. It’s honestly the best decision I’ve ever made.”