Searing drama unfolds on a park bench
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By Cassie Tongue
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Darlinghurstâs Green Park has particular significance for Sydneyâs queer population. It runs parallel to âthe wallâ on Darlinghurst Road â once a popular spot for sex work â and itâs now-demolished toilet block served as a gay beat (a spot for meeting other men for casual sex).
For the next month, people will meet in this park to sit, don headsets, and watch a play steeped in that history unfold on a wooden bench. The two characters â Warren (Steve Le Marquand), an ostensibly-straight man in his fifties visiting from regional NSW, and Edden (Joseph Althouse), a much younger Sydneysider who is openly out and in command of an easy sexuality â are here to discuss the terms of an impending hook-up. (The park remains open during performances, an
Dramatic Grindr encounter at a park adds chapter to Sydneyâs gay history
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Two men hook up after meeting on the dating app Grindr. Warren and Edden choose a two-seater bench in Green Park, in Sydneyâs gay-friendly inner-city Darlinghurst â a safe public space to initially appraise one another in the flesh.
Warren (Steve Le Marquand) is in his late 50s. He explores his sexual fluidity while in Sydney for work, although he doesnât post a public picture of himself in his profile. He calls himself straight and thinks of himself as happily married to the woman with whom he lives in a regional area.