All the Sex I’ve Ever Had | HOTA on the Gold Coast | 4–5 October
Six over-65-year-old Gold Coast locals share their lives in a new show All the Sex I’ve Ever Had at HOTA this week.
First performed in Germany by Mammalian Diving Reflex, the show is created in situ with non-professional participants whose experiences and stories weave together a unique story of place.
‘A lot of people tour a show, but this is a process that is toured,’ says co-writer and creator Alice Fleming.
Working with Darren O’Donnell, the two spent a month working with six locals to create the show.
‘We break it down year by year from zero until now,’ says Alice. ‘We use sexuality as the lens. The first time they saw someone’s genitals, the first kiss, the first crush, the marriage, the divorce, the heartbreak and everything in between. Sex and sexuality is just the lens that we look through.’
It all started a few months ago when there was a call out for older people who might like to participate. After a series of one-to-one interviews, six people were chosen. Those six were as diverse as the list would let them be.
‘We have the owner of the Love Street recording studio; he’s a party animal! People who have dabbled in same-sex encounters; there are people who have had affairs, marriages and children, then broken up; people who are single now then broken up; people who are doing online dating now. There’s a lot of diversity.’
As creators, Darren O’Donnell and Alice Fleming have distinctly different points of view when it comes to relationships.
‘I am a romantic,’ says Alice, ‘Darren O’Donnell doesn’t believe in monogamy and I am naively the opposite. I am quite interested in people who have short-lived romances early on, and there is one person here on the Gold Coast who has this amazing through line that they have with this one person on and off, and then finally they are together. Life is quite incredible how it can hit you over the head with the same message!’
The end result is a pacy show that’s very funny and engrossing. ‘You become quite obsessed with one person’s story. You want to know what happened and then it moves on to a different person and then you get hooked into them. It’s fascinating following the threads.’
All the Sex I’ve Ever Had at HOTA on the Gold Coast. Thursday 2pm and 7pm; Friday at 7pm. Book on hota.com.au.
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