Growing up in Houston Texas in the 1990s, Lauren Hance, the director and performer behind a new solo play at the Adelaide Fringe, recalls a culture of outward purity that it has taken her years to unlearn. Her resulting play, Holy O, isn’t interested in answering how we should contend with our bodily urges in buttoned-up society, but rather in connecting with others who might be navigating the same tricky feelings.
It begins with its protagonist Vera, a soon-to-be nun in the midst of figuring it out herself, with a little help from the audience; her ‘saints’ for the evening. “I was inspired by Saint Theresa of Avila, who had these bodily experiences while in prayer,” says Hance, “and I thought it was really interesting and similar to Vera’s situation called a ‘prayer-gasm,’ [a moment – as the name suggests – of orgasmic prayer that throws up equal amounts of pleasure and shame] which is the start of the show.”
At a turning point in her life, about to leave her civilian life behind for the convent, Vera finds herself questioning whether she is quite ready to give up corporeal pleasures. Has the rest of the room ever felt this way; like the expectations of religion and femininity conflict with natural desire? Here she opens it out to the crowd, and a dialogue begins. The immersive show consists of “lots of improv, storytelling and also audience interaction… Those who choose to talk about their story to Vera [will] receive a beautiful exchange of feeling seen and known, and walk away with a few laughs and tears,” she says. There’s a suggestion that Vera’s struggle is shared beyond those who are the most devoted in our society; that the nun in crisis can function as a metaphor for us all, grappling with the intersection of tradition and contemporary life. “Holy O is designed to open up conversations around the difficult experiences people have had with faith communities and their sexuality, in hopes that people will feel less alone, and maybe even find a piece of healing,” Hance shares.
Such is definitely the case for Sister Elizabeth, the titular character at the centre of Libby O’Donovan’s eclectic pop cabaret. About a nun who loves to have fun, Sister Elizabeth mixes depictions of nuns in pop culture and history (it features an array of iconic films, such as The Sound of Music and Sister Act, as well as songs such as Adelaide’s very own Sister Janet Mead’s pop-rock version of the Lord’s Prayer) with O’Donovan’s own stories about growing up in a church herself.
With cabaret and religion co-existing in her life for a long time, O’Donovan wanted to combine her experiences into a show that shares her past and present. She wanted to introduce us to a few nuns “that have done incredible things throughout history that are quite exciting and shocking,” she says.
“Growing up in Broken Hill, I had lived with different nuns through attending convents, and these crazy experiences have led to friendships with some of them throughout my life that I am forever grateful for… I’ve always been curious about their depiction in popular culture, like movies and shows, that also include excellent music which inspired me to make Sister Elizabeth.”
It seems O’Donovan is not the only one inspired by a confluence of cabaret and religion. Premiering at the 2026 Adelaide Fringe, Mass Hysteria is a drag cabaret show by Jens Radda and Lachlan Bartlett, the people behind drag personas Skank Sinatra and Iva Rosebud, with musical theatre performer Meg Hickey. Mass Hysteria isn’t your typical drag show, they say. It emphasises the current world’s political, social and economic issues that can divide us and sow hatred, in order to reclaim attention away from them and reclaim joy. “Mass Hysteria is about a celebration of diversity, joy and community in all its different forms with a soft-churchy undertone and some live singing from a couple of drag queens,” Radda explains.
Growing up in South Africa, Radda was immersed early into religion and music, performing hymns with a gospel choir at his local church (Seventh day Adventist church). “I wore a cross around my neck until I was 19, so religion was very real to me, and tied up with family, ritual, and community,” he says. Radda was fortunate to not experience any disagreement and hatred when he came out to his family, but he did fear the worst: the thought of being disowned by his whole family and community, as South Africa is “culturally quite conservative and very Christian, and so there is definitely a wider atmosphere where being different can feel quietly policed.” He believes that “organised religion can be deeply welcoming,” but that, “where it gets complicated, especially for queer people, is when humans get in the way of that. It can also be alienating, depending on who is holding the power in the room and how belonging is defined.”
With social media stoking negativity in our daily lives, Radda believes it’s important to find a place where these fundamental global issues are shared through a different matter, and a drag show could be the answer. “We like to kind of push the boundary of what is expected and continuously explore the next evolution of drag to mix with these issues, and to ask these big questions [that] appeal to a broad market of people who want to have fun,” he says. “With Mass Hysteria, I should say it is not a show about religion, and it is not trying to examine faith as its central theme. It is much more irreverent than that – cheeky, clever, self-aware, and ultimately a celebration of gathering and celebrating life.”
Holy O, Studio Theatre at Goodwood Theatre and Studios, 19 Feb-1 Mar, 7.30pm
Sister Elizabeth, Ground Floor at Plant 4 Bowden, 15 & 22 Mar, 4pm
Mass Hysteria, BankSA Theatre at Gluttony – Rymill Park, 13-15 Mar, 10.20pm