The Past is a Wild Party (Qtopia) ★★★★

Written by Noëlle Janaczewska. Qtopia, The Loading Dock. 20-27 Jul, 2024.

Queer lit collides with queer life in Noëlle Janaczewska’s one-person show, The Past is a Wild Party, that has just wrapped its run at Sydney’s Qtopia. 

As ‘The Writer’ researches their “chosen family” tree, they reflects on the literature and women that have shaped their queer life. From Sappho to Virgina Wolfe to Amy Levy to Radclyffe Hall, via lesbian pulp fiction and more, interwoven with tales of love and sex, this story is part travelogue, part memoir and part Goodreads listicle.

Performer Jules Billington breathes life and humour into the text. Unafraid to lock eyes with the intimate audience, there is a sharp glimmer of mischief to their performance. From tales of disappointment at the lack of practical “how to be a lesbian” tips in queer novels, to revelling in the coded language, Billington’s enthusiasm fills this simple story with a sense of adventure and play.

Director Kate Gaul has assembled all the right ingredients for this to really sing. Apart from casting a magnetic performer in Billington, the master stroke is bringing in lighting guru Benjamin Brockman who uses endless tricks to make the series of lightbulbs that make up the set into characters in their own right. There is a simplicity and elegance to the staging that elevates the performance. The final piece of this ensemble is the music by Madeleine Picard that gently guides the audience through moments.

Janaczewska’s script avoids turning into a lecture through a loving use of language. Tiny diversions into discussions of “second person queer” points of view (sidebar: “Second Person Queer” would be a great alternative title for the show), and a clarification of “they” as “third person plural” will delight the literary nerds in the audience (for whom this show is surely catnip). The anecdotes have the warm specificity of memory. They may not be completely accurate but the sense they leave behind is real.

In the rush of real life, and other shows, I’ve sadly slept on the output of The Loading Dock at Qtopia, but I’m glad to have finally rectified that error. It’s the perfect, intimate space for this type of confessional work. I hope future shows are just as great as this.