Being at university is already a lot of work, but add a divine revelation and being an ‘alpha male’ into the mix…that’s enough to throw anyone’s hormones out of whack! How My Hormonal Imbalances Killed My Friends is Parmiter’s Republic of Drama’s (PROD) answer to the overwhelming influx of red pill content onto mainstream media platforms. Starring an all-girl cast, though there is only one female character, this short play satirises the rise of chauvinists starting podcasts and the dangers herd mentality can create, especially for young men in this increasingly conservative zeitgeist.
While these critiques of toxic masculinity are perfectly valid and important to point out, PROD’s attempts were fairly surface level – there were no new insights or angles offered. However, it is important to note that this is a school drama company so I do want to commend the efforts of these politically conscious young actors. During their 50 minutes, the cast highlighted several polarising topics, such as drugs and peer pressure, the misappropriation of religion to generate confidence, and baseless homophobia and misogyny in these communities of predominantly young men. At several points in the show the ringleader of the group, Chris – who is divinely instructed to start a podcast in the first scene – quotes the book of Proverbs incorrectly, but the one time his quote is verbatim, it is to assert authority over the only female character, Sam (1 Timothy 2:12).
The characterisation of Sam is purposely confusing both to the audience and the characters on stage. For most of the play we assume she is a boy due to her androgynous name and costume, but after it transpires that Chris believes himself to be gay after falling for Sam and comes out to his friends, they are ironically horrified to discover she is a girl. Chris feels deceived and offended, consequently hurling insults at her. Creating this ambiguity to extract the irony and contradictions of bigotry is a good idea, but the execution of it was somewhat heavy handed, as I wasn’t sure what was going on at some points.
All in all, these young actors displayed a lot of potential which I’m sure will be successfully developed in the future.
How My Hormonal Imbalances Killed My Friends is running until 27 August at theSpace @ Symposium Hall. Buy tickets here.
Image provided by Parmiter’s Republic of Drama as press material.
