From the cutting-edge queer theatre makers that brought Melbourne The Inheritance, In The Club and The Gospel According to Jesus and Queen of Heaven, comes a razor-sharp new collaboration with trans playwright Eva Rees.
Presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy, the psychological thriller has been directed by Bullet Heart Club’s Kitan Petkovski and promises to captivate and challenge audiences with its provocative exploration of identity, power, and the complexities of human connection.
Set within the charged intimacy of a hotel room, Djuna follows the two-year affair between a young trans woman Djuna (Jay Gold) and Marcus (Dion Mills), an older and purportedly heterosexual man. Both characters in this play are queer in their own ways, from different generations, brought together in this hotel room to explore themselves in ways they can’t anywhere else.
Their initial encounter, driven by mutual fantasy, evolves into a fraught and transformative connection, marked by power dynamics, vulnerability, and the characters’ attempts to navigate their identities. She’s definitely lying about her age, and he’s clearly in denial about who he is and what he wants.
The play’s visceral tension is heightened with themes of body horror, exploring the corporeality of medically transitioning. By literalising societal taboos around body modification, Djuna reclaims and confronts notions of trans identity, creating a bold narrative space that is both unsettling and compelling.
Djuna offers a scintillating perspective on queer exploration, from a ground-breaking local company.
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