A confronting, powerful new work about gender, sex and love makes its debut on 31 January at the Motley Bauhaus in Carlton as part of Midsumma Festival.

Public documentation, a trial, an experiment that happens accidentally. In the age of the removal of the self, Body Irrelevant depicts the endless forms that self-actualisation and ridicule take.

The show is a conversation between friends attempting to explain and uncover the aesthetic currency of queerness and how they are subject to the ever-changing nature of gender, sex and love. Body Irrelevant combines melodrama, poetry, and performance art visualised through a series of vignettes and moments.

The piece is the creation of Ez Kenworthy and Jay Gold, both in their final year of Victorian College of the Arts theatre courses. The duo has devised, directed, and produced and are the only performers supported by lighting and sound technician Uma Jacobs.

Ez says: “The piece is set in a bedroom – Jay’s, mine… or anyones. It’s cluttered, full of memorabilia, letters and gifts we’ve accumulated… We want this to be somewhere intimate, where the audience can find themselves and for which they are nostalgic.”

The show seeks not to uncover what queerness means but rather to reveal how the meaning itself is simply confusing, shifting and can’t be contained. The duo may not feel the same way in a year – that is the nature of change in oneself. These are simply moments of their lives.

Body Irrelevant debuted as a 25-minute performance in the MUSE Festival at the VCA in July 2022.

Body Irrelevant by Ez Kenworthy and Jay Gold  |  light & sound design Uma Jacobs

Venue: The Motley Bauhaus, Cabaret Stage, 118 Elgin Street, Carlton
Date: Tuesday 31 January – Saturday 4 February 2023

Time: 7:15 pm | Running Time: 60 minutes | Tickets: Full $25.00, Concession $20.00

Bookings and more information: www.midsumma.org.au/body-irrelevant