With the push to legalise gay marriage, is anyone asking whether marriage is something we all should aspire to, anyway? Building up to the opening of Dance Of Death, The Malthouse Theatre presented a discussion on this topic, with Richard Watts hosting the terrifically ferocious Helen Razer, the suave and erudite Benjamin Law, the eminently intellectual Professor Dennis Altman and the wise and wonderful Jacqui Tomlins. Razer, reclining on a chaise lounge bedecked in a beaded wedding gown, challenged gay marriage as supporting a 'flawed hetero-normative situation' while the right to feel 'normal' was vigorously supported in principle by Laws. There are more important battles to fight, claims Professor Altman, while noting that once upon a time being gay freed one from conforming to the model of monogamy, a model which works just fine for the happily married for ten years Jacqui Tomlins and her (lesbian) partner. The conversation comprised a vigorous and inspired debate with each panellist agreeing on how privileged we were to be having it in the first place.
Malthouse Theatres: Dance Of Death runs to Sunday 19 May
