Sex In The Modern Era

Thomas Larkin is a difficult man to catch. Currently dividing his time rehearsing QTC kids' show The Lost Property Rules by day and the much more adult Sex With Strangers by night, Larkin could be forgiven for sounding a little battle-weary, but instead maintains an articulate enthusiasm for his workload.

The Brisbane-raised, VCA-trained actor has, in a few short years, become a familiar face on Queensland stages, playing the lead in QTC's Romeo And Juliet and La Boite's As You Like It. For the decidedly more modern Sex With Strangers, Larkin reunites with Romeo And Juliet director, Jennifer Flowers, and co-star Veronica Neave. The reunion came after he and Flowers attended an intensive acting workshop. “Without sounding too much like a wanker,” he cautions, “what was built from that was a mutual respect... We came back to Brizzy and thought, hell, why don't we put something on? Why wait around for that knock on the door?” After workshopping a number of two-handers, Flowers and Larkin pitched to the Powerhouse. “I thought, why not... dream big and present these options, see if they bite.” And bite they did.

Sex With Strangers sees the Gen Y-er Ethan, a writer who's made his mark with a blog cataloguing his encounters with anonymous women, meeting Olivia, a 39-year-old writer who has lost her mojo after a second book proved a critical and popular bust. The pair collide with immediate tension, and not just of the sexual variety, Larkin explains, but between generations and between the sexes. “What we follow throughout this play is their relationship as that unfolds… The racy title is rather ironic in a sense: at its core it's a love story. I was attracted Ethan because I get into the shoes of someone who knows what he wants and is prepared to go and get it, who has that ability to push forwards regardless of what other people think or want.”

Of Ethan's attraction to Olivia, Larkin elaborates, “Yeah, he thinks she's sexy as hell, but at the core he's really turned on psychologically. A lot of the women through these sexcapades haven't switched him on psychologically, but on meeting Olivia, it's a real turning point.”

There's also a certain vulnerability to Ethan, who is simultaneously exposed by his graphic blogging and hidden behind a fabricated persona, a juxtaposition anybody with a Facebook account can relate to. “Like Ethan says, half of what people write about themselves or say about themselves is bullshit.”

As to just how far the adult content goes, Larkin jokes, “The whole show, it's just a big old romp… No, I think we've had to plan it such that you don't blow your load too soon. We navigate small, different ways that we can map the journeys between sex given that most scenes end with [the direction] 'clothes come off, sex is imminent'. We're going with subtlety: less is more. It's not that we're going to be wearing corsets or long dresses but it's titillating without being gratuitous. I assure you it will be sexy night in the theatre.”