INTOXICATION by Christopher Bryant
La Mama Courthouse (2016), YouAreHere Canberra (2017), Melbourne Fringe Hub (2017), Critical Animals Newcastle (2017), Raj House/Adelaide Fringe (2018), Bondi Feast Festival (2018), Critical Mass/Next Wave Brunswick Mechanics Institute (2018)
(Production photography by Sarah Walker, Daniel Sutherland, Emma Palackic - click to scroll through)
“It’s about connection. Connection in all its forms: between people, friends, lovers, electricity cords & sockets, all getting close. Trying to get closer.”
Intimacy is dead, and we’re partying with its corpse. Intoxication is a post-dramatic patchwork about queer millennial anxiety; exploring how the intense fear of being alone rules modern society, and how one person’s loneliness is symptomatic of everyone’s problem. Inspired by the work of sociologist Brené Brown, Intoxication weaves together concepts of vulnerability and shame with Christopher's personal experience of a brain injury and amnesia, and the overall anxiety of being queer in the technological age.
First performed as a full production in the 2016 Midsumma festival, the show was reworked and rewritten as a monologue after Christopher met Kate Mulvany and worked with Gob Squad during their visit to Melbourne in 2016. This shorter version debuted in 2017 at Canberra's You Are Here experimental arts festival.
Intoxication is available to purchase through Australian Plays.
Credits:
Director: Emma Palackic
Producer: Morgan Little
Performer/Sound Designer: Christopher Bryant
2016 Midsumma/La Mama production:
Directed by: Jessica Arthur
Production Design: Jonathan Hindmarsh
Lighting Design: Alexander Berlage
Technical Operator: Trelawney Edgar
Performers: Ryan Forbes and Amy Hack
PRESS:
Audrey Journal (written by Christopher Bryant)
” It is one thing to write your vulnerability for an audience, but another skill entirely to personally deliver it with such openness and honesty. Bryant told his story with humour, but rarely in a way that sought to diminish his experience or emotions, and struck a beautiful balance between the personal and the universal. As a millennial of Bryant’s era, I found this work strikingly relatable in its humour as well as its commentary of social media, mental health, creative practice, relationships, and self-doubt. Intoxication was as confronting as it was captivating, grounded in empathy and an excellent use of space.” - Elise Lawrence/Anywhere (Intoxication)
"A hard hitting drama... a genuine, moving performance" ★★★★ - The Advertiser (Intoxication)
“Bryant is beautifully articulate... Intoxication is a well-written and well-crafted piece of theatre" (5 stars). - Adelaide Theatre Guide (Intoxication)
"Intoxication is a daring experiment in audience unease, told with poise and care." - Glam Adelaide (Intoxication)
"[Bryant] combines camp humour, soul-baring revelation, distilled insight and hard-won wisdom. Gay men will find much to recognise in this deeply personal introspective." - Cameron Woodhead (Intoxication)
"Intoxication's story is honest & moving without being sentimental or indulgent. A doctor said Bryant might not write again after a brain injury. I'd like the doc to see this." - Anne-Marie Peard (Intoxication)
"There were moments that if the audience had been sitting in the dark, I might have teared up at the honesty about his pain. But if we'd been in the dark, we could have hidden and Bryant doesn't want that. He wants openness and honesty. And in that small room, under bright lights, that's what we got. [...] Bryant is charming and awkward. The show, intoxicating." - Keith Gow (Intoxication)
"[Christopher Bryant's] Intoxication is a fascinating study of social disconnection via gay online dating + a real-life experience of brain trauma. It's beautifully made: funny, too-smart and at times quite shattering. Def check it out." - Declan Greene (Intoxication)
"Bryant is talented, insightful, and pulls no punches. Seriously. BOOK." - Hannah Malarski (of Bagabus Inc.) (Intoxication)
"Forbes, Hack and Bryant are engaging on stage and the interactions they do share have a nice authenticity to them. Bryant is a talented and thoughtful writer and I would love to be able to read the script to Intoxication so I could fully comprehend everything that he has to say. Every line uttered has importance and carries much weight." - Theatre Press (Intoxication)