‘Perfect Arrangement’ Explores Lavender Marriages During The Red Scare

Are you ready to take a step back in time, and immerse yourself in the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement? Perfect Arrangement at the New Theatre — part of the 2026 Mardi Gras program — is promising you exactly that. 

Based on Topher Payne’s enthralling play and directed by Patrick King, the combination of classic sitcom-style comedy with evocative turmoil promises to have you laughing and crying simultaneously.

Set in 1950s Washington, amid the throes of the Red Scare, two US State Department employees, Bob and Norma, are tasked with identifying sexual deviants, with just one problem: they are both gay, and married to each other’s partners. 

As their work intensifies, so does their struggle to maintain their cover. Living as neighbours in a duplex apartment, the constant deceit begins to take a toll, unable to live as their true selves.

With the current events occurring in the US and the compounding threats to queer existence, it’s a timely examination into the events that predate queer activism as we know it today.

With a star-studded cast including Dominique Purdue, Brooke Ryan, Jordan Thompson, Brock Cramond and Lucinda Jurd, Perfect Arrangement promises to be one play you won’t forget. 

Purdue emphasises the moving nature of the slapstick play contrasted with historical queer rights protests and movements. “The genre and tropes of a 1950s sitcom, combined with the darkness of what was happening in the US at the time is genius and moving”, said Purdue, of the acerbic comedic nature of the play that promises to keep you enthralled.

“On the surface, it’s a smart, trope-y comedy set in the 1950s but under the surface it’s a very sharp examination of how much energy people expend maintaining appearances – socially, politically, and emotionally – and the cost of doing so,” explains King.

If you’re intrigued by the struggles that queer individuals have historically faced, and the unconventional ways in which our community was forced to overcome them, Perfect Arrangement promises to be the thought-provoking display for you. 

Perfect Arrangement

6 February – 7 March, 2026
New Theatre, 542 King St, Newtown
You can get more details or buy tickets HERE.