‘Wild Abandon’ Brings Queer Desire Into Close Focus
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One hotel room. Three encounters. Six people trying to negotiate desire without being consumed by shame, fantasy or the rules they made to feel safe. ‘Wild Abandon’ is a bold new drama bringing queer intimacy into close, funny and frequently uncomfortable focus.
On the final night of a “free pass” from her marriage, Lilly meets Francis, a trans woman exhausted by people using her to test the limits of their queerness. Their attraction moves quickly, but so do the assumptions beneath it. Former lovers Serene and Jade reunite after promising to meet in the same hotel room if both were single in five years; sparks survive, yet old wounds and carefully maintained stories soon surface.
Elsewhere, Jo waits for Mik, whose late arrival sends their Grindr hookup sharply off-script. Across the night, desire collides with racism, control, loneliness and the need to be seen.
Written by Seán Dowling, Merlynn Tong and Ian Lawson, this world premiere brings together a deep Brisbane theatre experience. Dowling – Playlab Theatre’s playwright-in-residence since 2021 – debuted with the company in 2024 through ‘Unconditional’ and received the 2025 Varuna Trans and Gender Diverse Fellowship.
Tong’s one-woman work ‘Blue Bones’ won six Matilda Awards, while her stage career includes Brisbane appearances in ‘The Poison of Polygamy’ at La Boite and ‘Legends (of the Golden Arches)’. Lawson spent six years as La Boite’s associate director and has shaped an array of acclaimed Queensland works.
The cast further anchors the production in the city’s performance history. Jodie Le Vesconte’s extensive Queensland Theatre credits sit alongside Zac Callaghan’s Matilda-winning career and five seasons of ‘Queer as Flux’.
Anna McGahan, Julian Curtis and Dowling complete the ensemble, directed by Daniel Lammin.
Sensual, sharp-edged and unexpectedly tender, ‘Wild Abandon’ treats sex not as provocation for its own sake, but as the place where identity, power and vulnerability become impossible to hide.
11-21 November, 2026
Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm
brisbanepowerhouse.org
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