Unconditional by Seán Dowling & Cameron Hurry
Two men. They flirt. They dance. They fall in love.
House. Dog. Coffee machine. Joint bank accounts.
Work. Routine. Drift. Crisis.
Intimate, poetic and de-centering, Unconditional weaves a compelling tapestry of a queer relationship between a man who identifies as gay and a person whose identity evolves during their marriage… starting as “he”, but now transitioning to “she”, which destablises their union, their belief systems, and their politics.
Each playwright writes for one character in subjective monologue, duelling monologue and dialogue. Told with humour, insight and absolute honesty, Unconditional re-examines and re-defines the nature of love and what we tell ourselves we would accept. Is love really unconditional? Or does it have conditions like everything else?
Photo Credit: Justine Walpole
| SEASON DATES | Wednesday 30 August - Saturday 9 September 2023 |
| VENUE | Underground Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse |
| DURATION | 90 minutes, no interval |
| AGES | Suitable for 18+ |
| PLAYWRIGHT | Seán Dowling |
| Cameron Hurry | |
| DIRECTOR | Brian Lucas |
| DRAMATURG | Ian Lawson |
| LIGHTING DESIGNER | David Walters |
| SOUND DESIGNER | Brady Watkins |
| DESIGNER | Bill Haycock |
| STAGE MANAGER | Makayla Purdy |
| CAST | Seán Dowling |
| Cameron Hurry |
"It was all at once painful and beautiful. It is so profoundly heartening to see such honest, authentic trans representation on a Queensland stage. Makes young artists like me believe that their stories matter. An important piece of theatre for any audience, LGBTQIA+ or not.”
“I cannot praise this work enough…nothing short of exceptional…a must-see.”
“A rich portrait…told with raw emotion and sharp wit.”
Seán Dowling
Seán Dowling is a Graphic Designer and Illustrator who specialises arts organisations. A fixture in the Brisbane arts ecology for the last decade she designs for prominent local organisations such as Brisbane Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Museum of Brisbane, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Camerata, Playlab Theatre, La Boite and Dead Puppet Society. As visual designer and illustrator Seán has been attached to numerous Counterpilot productions such Avoidable Perils (2020), Spectate (2017) and Crunch Time (2018) which was the winner of The Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work.
Cameron Hurry
Neuroqueer actor and writer Cameron Hurry is based in Brisbane and was trained through the University of Southern Queensland. His theatre credits include: Grand Horizons (Pip Theatre), Adventures of Peter Rabbit (Small Crown Productions), King Lear: Monster Show (The Curators), The Woman In Black (HOTA/White Rabbit), The Lonesome West (Troop Productions), Tashi (Imaginary Ltd.), Frankenstein (Fractal Theatre), Picnic at Hanging Rock, Delicacy, Strange Attractor (Arts Theatre), Suckers (LOLipop/Harvest Rain ndependents), The Bully (Omad Productions), Macbeth (JUTE Theatre), Angry Young Women (Mixed Company), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Jane Eyre, Alice, Shadowlands (Harvest Rain) and The Lieutenant Of Inishmore (AStheatre). Film and television includes Young Rock (NBC), The Bureau of Magical Things (Eleven), Dolls (Flickerfest), Avulsion (Screamfest), Wanted (Matchbox, Channel 7), The Alpha (ABC2), The F Word (Cannes), as well as over a dozen commercials.
Cameron’s official foray into writing was with Playlab’s Incubator Program where he penned his first full length comedy. He then followed this with the short horror film Night Fill, for which he won the Jury Award at the Australian Independent Film Festival, Best Actor at the Sanctuary Cove International Film Festival, and was selected as one of twelve best films of the year at the Stellar Short Film Festival. His second film, the comedy Christian In The Closet, took home the People’s Choice Award at the Muskoka Queer Film Festival. Cameron has since completed the feature-length script for Night Fill, and also co-written another feature comedy Clowns on the Run.
A Playlab Theatre production. Playlab Theatre is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
This project has also been supported by the Creative Sparks Fund which is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council to support local arts and culture in Brisbane.