Quinn is a middle-aged dressage diva in distress. Loyal groom and live-in lover to top rider Randall James Beaumont-Smythe III, Quinn’s idyllic Daylesford life is shattered when Randy dumps him for a younger model on the eve of the National Dressage Championships.
Enter Keegan: a happy-go-lucky bogan from Bundaberg with a mullet, a dream, and a bombshell claim: he’s Quinn’s long-lost brother from another mother…
Escandalo!
Fuelled by heartbreak and hot chips, Quinn ropes Keegan into an increasingly deranged road trip up the East Coast, navigating family ties they never asked for while surviving a gauntlet of deranged strangers, botched makeovers, and unresolved daddy issues.
Narrated by Nutmeg, a loose-talking gelding with a taste for toxic stallions, Men on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a gloriously absurd new comedy unpacking the egos, insecurities, and emotional mess of modern manhood – with just the right amount of unhinged pony drama.
Starring Alexandra Aldrich, Lyall Brooks and River Stevens in a wild carousel of characters, this chaotic new comedy from award-winning playwright Adam Fawcett (Become The One, Every Lovely Terrible Thing) is for anyone who’s ever found themselves dumped, disappointed, or dangerously close to a breakdown in a paddock.
2-12 October 2025
fortyfivedownstairs
Tuesday – Saturday 7.30pm
Sundays 5.00pm
★★★★★ “Brave, fast, and doesn’t let you off the hook. We need more of this on our stages!” – Theatre People on Become The One by Adam Fawcett
“Endlessly surprising and enigmatic. Fawcett loves spectacle and reveres aesthetic.” – Australian Arts Review on Every Lovely Terrible Thing by Adam Fawcett
This project is proudly supported by The Robert Salzer Foundation through the Australian Cultural Fund.
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