Last year, a $1.4 million trial program was announced by the Victorian Government, meaning more than 3,000 men would have access to a ground-breaking new drug – PrEP – which drastically reduces the risk of HIV transmission.
Rising independent theatre performer Regan Lynch, is one of these 3,000 men. His new cabaret, Regan Lynch Does It In Public offers a cheeky glimpse into life before, and after, he began taking the drug.
“PrEP, I think, gives us a chance for a new sexual revolution. Or at least the continuing of an old one,” says Lynch. “Some of us have never known life without a fear and anxiety of HIV. It’s been driven into us since we were children. Antiretrovirals give us a chance to live without that fear, and I think that’s pretty exciting.”
While airing the details of his sex life may seem risky, for Regan it offers a unique opportunity. “Sex is hilarious and weird,” he says. “Which is why it makes a great topic for comedy. But more than that, as a queer man I am used to people being pretty obsessed with my sex life. Shows like this are a way for me to reclaim that conversation and throw it back on my own terms.”
Regan Lynch presented his first solo work, Regan Lynch Does It In Public at last year’s Anywhere Festival in Brisbane, before taking it to the 2017 Darwin Fringe, winning the Most Outstanding Comedy Award. Following its Midsumma Festival season, Regan Lynch Does It In Public will make it’s Western Australia debut at Fringe World.
It’s a comedy funk and punk cabaret, a burlesque, and a raucous and sometimes alarmingly interactive hour of stupid sex clowning. Performed with an electric guitar, a ukulele, angel wings, several layers of fetish-wear and a jar of meds – audiences will groove, laugh and be a little aroused as Regan meanders his way through sexual anecdotes and observational songs.
Regan Lynch: Does it in Public
Hares and Hyenas, 63 Johnston Street, Fitzroy
Season: 23 – 25 January 2018
Bookings: www.midsumma.org.au
The Deluxe – The Pleasure Garden, James Street, Northbridge
Season: 27 January – 4 February 2018
Bookings: www.fringeworld.com.au
For more information, visit: www.reganlynch.com for details.
Image: Regan Lynch – photo by Torrey Atkin