After back to back, award-winning and sold-out Melbourne Fringe seasons, Oliver Ayres brings his solo performance art piece I’m Ready To Talk Now back to Melbourne before its UK premiere.

Set inside of a hospital room, audiences experience the work one at a time, alone with the artist, as he tells the story of being diagnosed with a rare, severe and chronic immune condition - in his very first year of starting testosterone.

Through music, projection, and physical theatre, this radical act of connection blurs the lines between audience and performer, theatre and installation art, and stands boldly outside of ordinary theatrical conventions.

With access as its core guiding principle, each performance can be spontaneously altered: offering relaxed performances, tactile tours, audio description and captioning on demand. The audience can leave the space at any time.

WINNER - BEST EXPERIMENTAL, MELBOURNE FRINGE 2024

WINNER - CHANGER MAKER AWARD, MELBOURNE FRINGE 2024

★★★★★ "In its newly expanded form, this immersive experience cements Ayres as a forward thinking creative to watch." - TimeOut

"A meditative 30 minutes as Ayres reflects on his diagnosis with a disarming honesty paired with graceful physical theatre" - The Age

"Everything that works does so because it is meticulously crafted" - Theatre Travels

"Creating art requires a level of vulnerability and openness, and with I’m Ready To Talk Now, Ayres has found a beautifully gentle but honest expression of doing so which results in a unique experience for his audience." - My Melbourne Arts

Image: Isabella 'Iz' Zettl

The development of this work was proudly supported by the Darebin City Council's FUSE Fund Program.