By Michael Gray Griffith
How did we reach a point where a play about three young straight males lost out at sea
could be seen as theatrically dangerous?
One reason is, our young men have borne the brunt of a full-on attack against masculinity.
Try attaching the word ‘toxic’ to any other demographic and see how you fare.
And it’s not just from women. I hear so many men my age desecrating these young men,
calling them lazy, soft and disrespectful. A younger generation of males who seem to have
no respect for us.
But why should they respect us? What have we done for them?
One of the actors was telling us how when he was in school women were addressing their
assemblies, and in front of the female students declared that all the young males there
were rapists! And this wasn’t an isolated event. It was wearing away at their worth, by using
the tool of shame.
This was the premise for this new play; My Brother, My Brother, My Brother. A play for our sons that celebrates the forgotten beauty of masculinity. Starring; Odysseus, Joshua Bruce and Tom Dray.
Three young men wake up on a small disabled fishing boat, that is drifting further and further
out to sea. All their phones are missing, the radio has been broken, and they cannot see
land nor any search planes or boats. It appears they were drugged and have now woken up
alone and in a perilous situation.
From the First Rehearsal
To book tickets go to the Alex Theatre website here.
Initially the play appears to be a simple survival story, but as time passes the play lifts a
mirror and asks us all one question: If we treat, or do nothing as the state treats our young
men, the ones who will breed the new generation of Australians, as if they should be
ashamed of their very existence, what do you think will happen to their souls?
The play is funny, tense, and full of colourful language, and it is also explores the qualities of
courage, stoicism and mateship.
When I wrote it, which was just a few months ago, I thought I’d never find a theatre who
would host us, or actors who would be brave enough to risk being cancelled by acting in a
‘non woke’ play.
Instead, I found both. One Australian actor living abroad who read the script wanted to fly back from Canada — just to audition! And another actor flew in from South Australia for auditions.
The South Australian actor is now staging his own version over there. The actors who did secure roles, are determined to tell the story regardless of potential social ramifications.
Currently, we are in rehearsals, and it is an honour to work with these three talented,
courageous artists as we not only try to stage a brand-new play, but market it in a woke
environment, in the hope that we find an audience.
To book tickets go to the Alex Theatre website here.
Since the characters are all heroic, my dream is that people would bring their sons to the
theatre, and their sons would feel that just by listening to these three young men, that they
are also being heard.
Proudly Supported by The Alex Theatre and produced by The Wolves Theatre Company, the
premiere will be on the 18th of September at the Alex Theatre.
To book tickets go to the Alex Theatre website here. Four shows only.
