Coming Out For Christmas Audio play

Performances:
30 September 2022, 9 December 2022
at The Greek Centre, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne Australia

Coming Out For Christmas: Audio play

Alex brings her girlfriend for their first family Christmas lunch and discovers her conservative family is hiding from everyone. A dramedy about family, community, and living your truth.
And remember… DON’T TELL YIAYIA! 

Crew

Writer, Director: Demetra Giannakopoulos
Producer: Demetra Giannakopoulos
In presentation with The Greek Centre
Sound Design: Isabella Gilbert, Darren Mullan, Joel Symonds, John Jenkin

 

Long synopsis

Melbourne.  Late afternoon Christmas Eve.  Now.

Meet Alex.  Late 20’s, Greek-Australian, dressed in her smart suit.  She’s walking along the streets of Melbourne.  She reflects on Melbourne at Christmas time: officeworkers jostling for trams to escape the city, last minute shopping buzz, bars overflowing with catchups amongst friends before the summer break.  Buskers delight with their versions of Christmas carols in styles from opera to punk.

Alex descends into a hidden laneway bar that is always packed, to meet her girlfriend Jodie.  Jodie is a singer and is performing.  Jodie’s singing partner is Jamie (whose real name is Jamal).  Jamie is Alex’s friend and neighbour since childhood. 

Jamie has just met a Greek doctor, with whom he is having a secret fling.  Secret because the doctor is married.  Jamie teases Jodie and Alex about how they are like a married couple.  Alex and Jodie are preparing to move in together.

The main excitement though is that Alex is taking Jodie to their first Christmas lunch with Alex’s family.  Jodie will meet all of Alex’s mob.  Jodie is nervous hoping they will get along and be accepted by Alex’s family.  Alex is stressed because she is not sure how comfortable her family really is with her being a lesbian and hopes they will welcome Jodie.  She is particularly nervous about telling her Yiayia (Irini’s mother).  Alex hopes her mother has already told Yiayia.  |
They agree that Jamie will pick up Jodie from Alex’s house at 3pm after Christmas lunch, to go to their gig at the Hear Queer Christmas Cheer Picnic at Edinburgh Gardens.

Christmas Day.

Alex and Jodie arrive at Alex’s family home.  At the last minute Alex asks Jodie not to mention that they are moving in together.   Only Alex’s Mum, Irini, is home, manically preparing too much food: the Greek Christmas favourites and some from the Women’s Weekly cookbook. 

Alex’s father is not there. He has gone looking for a spare part for the motor for the lamb on the spit.  Irini tells Alex that they need to keep going outside to turn the lamb so it doesn’t burn.  Alex keeps calling her Dad urging him to come home asap.  He is not answering his phone, its going straight to messagebank, so Alex can only leave messages.

As the introductions begin, the doorbell rings. To everyone’s surprise its Stav. Stav is in her early 40’s, a family friend they have not seen for over 10 years. Stav defied her family and left for Sydney to marry an Aussie.  Stav has now separated from her husband and has come to spend Christmas lunch at Irini’s house seeking refuge from her own family.  Stav has always sought refuge with Irini when Stav rebelled against her family’s rules.

Alex nervously comes out to Stav as gay and introduces Jodie.  Stav is very supportive about it.  Alex insensitively gushes to Jodie that Stav was her teenage crush. Alex and Stav reconnect and share stories.  Jodie is being left out.

Alex begins to realize that in fact no-one else is coming to Christmas lunch. Not her sister, her sister’s husband, their two kids, koumbari, nor Yiayia.

And her Dad has still not returned.

Jamie arrives in a flurry.  He has a bloodied nose and blood all over his Nana Mouskouri outfit.  Jamie’s new lover did not show up on Christmas Eve, so Jamie has decided NO MORE LIES and turned up, uninvited at the boyfriend’s family’s Christmas lunch.  The boyfriend punched him and pushed him away.

Alex, Jodie, Irini and Stav comfort him and protect him because the boyfriend is now texting manically, trying to smooth things over. The women urge Jamie to call the cops.

In Jamie’s hysteria, and push back against Alex denying Jamie access to his phone so he doesn’t call the ex-boyfriend, he starts to spout all the family secrets, well Alex’s secrets in particularly, about her googly-eyed crush on Stav. 

Irini confides in Stav about how she is finding it difficult to talk with Alex about coming to terms with being a lesbian.  Made worse by a disastrous encounter with a doctor they went to see thinking he would help them, only to discover to both their horror, this doctor was anti-gay and wanted to send Alex to conversion therapy.

Alex then discovers that the spit roast motor IS working, it just wasn’t plugged in.  And Dad left his mobile at home and he has not been getting any of her messages. Alex confronts her mother with this discovery.  Irini confesses that they had an argument, and Alex’s Dad did not want to be at the Christmas lunch because he can’t support Alex being gay.  Irini insisted that he stay and “act happy”.

This makes them confront the difficult conversation they never had, so they can find truth, understanding and the realization that sometimes you can’t make the people that you love happy, especially when living your truth is the cause of their unhappiness.  Alex retreats to her bedroom.  Stav comes to comfort her.  In a moment of vulnerability and tenderness Alex kisses Stav.  Jodie, looking for Alex to comfort her, discovers Alex kissing Stav.

They all erupt in a panic of emotions. There is a purge of apologies/regrets/forgives/realisations. 

Jodie and Jamie leave for the Hear Queer Christmas Cheer Picnic gig. Alex and Jodie’s relationship is in pieces.

Stav counsels Alex try to reconcile with Jodie, to embark on a grown up relationship and bear the consequences.  Stav counsels Irini to go to the picnic with Alex as a show of true support. In the car together, Alex and Irini promise each other to talk through their difficulties, even when it is painful to do so.  Alex and Irini are caught in Christmas traffic and arrive late: they have missed Jodie’s show.

Can Alex win back Jodie’s love?