Some years ago, as part of a “journey towards gender transition”, the 19-year-old now known as Oliver Ayres had 22 of their eggs retrieved and stored. In recent times, they have concerns about what might happen if any were donated.
Would a child go looking for a biological mother, and be unsettled by finding a father? Despite that thought from the fringe blurb, the show No Seasons has broader reasons for anxiety about any offspring.
A potentially important one is chronic illness, which could possibly be passed down. Ruminations on this, and other topics relating to children, featured in headphones we collected on the way into the venue.
With no requirement for accuracy, attendees can choose a category (parent, not yet a parent but might be someday, not a parent and not expecting to be), receive an appropriately coded headset, and hear an audio track associated with their choice.
The show’s season was marketed as having “audio description”, but effectively, headphones gave everyone a pre-recorded audio track. My choice allowed me to hear from Ayres, their mother, and other voices having roles we might have to guess at.
However, this audio does not describe other happenings, including Ayres’ wordless live actions before us. Mostly these are around a rectangular tiled area, having a volume of water in the middle. In short, people with low vision were not given the accommodation that was promised.
Perhaps in an unfortunate coincidence, the tiled area (including a smattering of rainbow colours, a reference to the Pride Flag?) appeared to have tactile surfaces, in miniature, of the type that indicates a hazard for people with a vision impairment.
But they are scattered here, lessening their usefulness. There’s a perplexing thought that there might have been an intention to explore matters of disability or access in the show, but it hasn’t solidified.
Given how we talk about a “dead name” when people transition, perhaps the water in the middle references the rebirth symbolised by baptism. Or is it about fully committing to a decision?
We might not understand the pebbles cast into the water, but later we might equate them with eggs. But is that long length of white fabric standing in for a shroud, or a hospital gown? Sometimes it could feel that some object produced was a contrivance to get us to the next scene.
The audio track could have times of repetitious consideration of whether or not using any of those stored eggs to have a child was a good idea. However, unlike how repetition worked with the slow revealing of clues in Sh!t Theatre’s show this Fringe, we can feel that we’re working hard to decode the symbols, without achieving much insight.
No Seasons
Meat Market – The Stables (2), 36 – 54 Courtney Street, North Melbourne
Performance: Saturday 11 October 2025 – 7:30pm
Season continues to 18 October 2025
Information and Bookings: www.melbournefringe.com.au
Image: Oliver Ayres- photo by Jacquie Manning
Review: Jason Whyte