★★★★☆
14,000 words. Fifteen vignettes. Thirteen characters. Three decades. One man.
Like a whirlwind romance, CJ de Mooi takes audiences on a dizzying journey through love, loss and identity in The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me, now playing at BackDock Arts.
Written by Dan Butler in 1994, the play has remained largely unseen for more than thirty years. This Brisbane production marks its international premiere this century.
Single-handedly, CJ de Mooi brings thirteen distinct characters to life across fifteen interconnected monologue vignettes. Moving from AIDS rallies to smoky dive bars, the work offers a raw and deeply personal exploration of what it means to be gay in a changing world.
Industry veteran CJ de Mooi is no stranger to a one-man show. His previous production, Banana Crabtree Simon, earned him the 2024 Matilda Award for Best Performance in an Independent Production. With a career spanning British film and television, as well as London’s West End, de Mooi brings considerable experience and emotional depth to this ambitious work. Brisbane is lucky to have him.
Presented in the intimate venue at BackDock Arts, the production arrives during International Pride Month. Extending the show’s themes beyond the stage, de Mooi has pledged to donate all profits from the production to local LGBTQIA+ charities.
Set in the 1990s USA, each monologue vignette interrogates homosexuality from a different perspective. De Mooi dances between reverie, character and audience interaction in a transformative performance.
Particular highlights include the vignettes Critic (1, 2 and 3) and The Dancer. The Critic tackles explorations and critiques of the symbols of gay pride, including the Quilt and the Rainbow. De Mooi handles the material with care.
In The Dancer, De Mooi evokes a striking image through a simple gesture: one man feeling another man’s bicep in a show of affection. In another actor’s hands, the mime work could have felt artificial; here, it feels raw and tender.
Director Timothy Weston and costume designer Andrew Cox immerse the audience from the outset. To mask scene and costume changes, Weston employs period-accurate music, offering audiences a brief glimpse into the themes of each interconnected vignette. It’s a clever choice that keeps the production moving while reinforcing its setting and tone.
Cox’s costumes clearly distinguish each character. They are particularly striking during the Act Up AIDS rally scene, where costume and performance combine to evoke a pivotal moment in queer history.
The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me is a rare production. It is funny, confronting and deeply human. Through fifteen interconnected vignettes, de Mooi gives voice to a generation shaped by love, loss and resilience. In doing so, he reminds audiences that queer history is not as distant as it may seem.
The only worse thing you could have told me…is that you’re not coming to see this show.
The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me runs to 27 June 2026 at Backdock Arts. 103 Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley Qld 4006.
Tickets: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/backdockarts/2013975
Website: https://www.backdockarts.com/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/backdockarts/
Images supplied.
