ARTS HUB AUSTRALIA — Timothy Conigrave’s 1995 memoir Holding the Man is one of those books that grips you by the heart and doesn’t let go. Tommy Murphy’s brave and brilliant stage adaptation of the book is now playing to sell-out houses and standing ovations at the Sydney Opera House. This is the third season of the Griffin Theatre Company production, and probably not the last.
It has been a singular experience. Over the production’s two sold-out seasons at Griffin, we received more letters and emails about the show than about any other I’ve ever had anything to do with, anywhere. Long, handwritten letters. For a great many people, gay and straight, male and female, young and old, the story touched a well. For some, the theatre became a place of remembrance and reclaiming; for others, it was a place of wide-eyed discovery; for others still, it was a place to hold a loved one in a tender act of repair.
