BEFORE WE BEGIN Comes to Adelaide Fringe

Award-winning New Zealand theatremaker Hamish Annan will bring Before We Begin to Adelaide Fringe — a naughty, playful, surprisingly tender experimental solo about consent and queer intimacy. A series of increasingly intimate tasks for performer and audience.

Before We Begin asks for permission. It waits until you're ready. It hopes you'll like it. Say yes, say maybe, say absolutely not. Nothing happens without your say-so. What does happen might surprise you.

Through escalating invitations — from eye contact to cheeky Instagram DMs to kissing strangers — performer and audience navigate consent in real time. It's sexy (or not-so-sexy) decision-making. It's a live date. It's an important conversation that never feels like one.

"I think we assume we're better at consent than we actually are," says Annan. "This work finds joy in the moments we pause to ask, listen, and connect. We need to talk about this. And f**k me, it's hard."