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[title]Can there ever be space for romantic connection within the confines of a doctor-patient relationship? Are the interests of Big Pharma compatible with those of the patients who rely on medication? These are just some of the questions posed in Telethon Kid, the new play premiering at the Malthouse’s Beckett Theatre on July 28.
Comedian, advocate, emerging writer and disability ingenue Alistair Baldwin created Telethon Kid as his debut comedy, with direction from Hannah Fallowfield, 2020 alum of the Malthouse’s Besen Family Artist Program. The thought-provoking narrative takes inspiration from Baldwin’s own experience of growing up with a rare disorder and being turned into a spectacle in the name of medical advancement.
Telethon Kid’s multidimensional protagonist is Sam (William Rees), an online ingenue who lives with an ‘orphan disease’, aka an extremely rare disease which lacks research funding to find a treatment.
After rising to fame as the shining star of the Perth Children’s Hospital’s 2007 telethon, Sam has gotten used to the spotlight. While his enamoured online subscribers think he’s the darling of body positivity activism, Sam feels torn between two worlds, with one foot in the grave and the other in the bed of his latest hookup.
Sam is a fearless influencer who craves agency over his own body, but things get ethically grey when he reconnects with his paediatric doctor turned lover. If it sounds like a lot, it’s because it is – turns out a rare degenerative disease is just the thing to make you live a little.
Telethon Kid is showing at the Beckett Theatre in Southbank from Friday, July 28 until Sunday, August 13. There will be an audio-described performance on August 9 and a relaxed performance on August 12. Tickets for the audio-described and relaxed performances are $40. Standard tickets are $80 or $50 for concession holders.