What you don't know don't hurt you

Tony’s ready to live again. Love and live it large.

But his efforts to step back onto the scene are hampered by a secret his friends, Monica and Kevin, should have told him a long time ago.

Mixed Salad Productions presents the South Australian premiere of this funny and caustic exploration of love and the limits of friendship, set over a long, hazily-hot summer weekend in London.

It's a brilliant play from the writer of Beautiful Thing, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Coronation Street and Beautiful People.

What the critics say

"bellyachingly funny and bitchy" - The Stage.

"utterly irresistable" - What¹s On.

"a tender, often moving and caustically witty play" - London's Curtain Up

"funny, sad, cynical and very confronting -in that it challenges the audience to assess their own notions of truth and honesty" - E-Onstage

Love, friendship and the messy bits in between.

Written in 2002 and first performed at the Everyman Theatre Liverpool, the play has been a huge hit on the West End and on tour throughout the UK.

The first Australian performance was in Sydney as part of the Mardi Gras Festival.

Our production is the South Australian premiere

Director Dave Simms says the play never shies away from the darker side. 

“It has some poignant & emotional scenes, but at the same time it’s a hilarious comedy about a situation that’s almost unique to gay people.”

“I’ve packed the cast with talented gorgeous actors – and we’re cramming every minute with emotion, drama, pashing and drunkenness – I can’t wait!”

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Jonathan Harvey

Jonathan Harvey wrote Out in the Open in 2001. It's a caustic and funny exploration of love and the limits of friendship.

Born in Liverpool in 1968, his first serious attempt as a playwright was in 1987. Fuelled by the attraction of a £1,000 first prize to young writers from the Liverpool Playhouse, the result was The Cherry Blossom Tree, a garish blend of suicide, murder and nuns. This effort won him the National Girobank Young Writer of the Year Award.

Feeling very encouraged, he went on to write Mohair (1988), Wildfire (1992) and Babies (1993), the latter winning him the 'George Devine Award' for that year and The Evening Standard's 'Most Promising Playwright Award' for 1994.

In 1993, Harvey, premiered Beautiful Thing, a gay-themed play-turned-movie for which he won the prestigious 'John Whiting Award' the following year.

1995 saw the premiere of Boom Bang-A-Bang, at the Bush Theatre, London, originally directed by Kathy Burke. Harvey cites it as "my most comic play ever, but with some dark bits". Centred around a group of friends gathering to watch the Eurovision Song Contest, the play was a sell-out. That same year, he also premiered Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club, his "much more sad, serious and dark play".

Guiding Star (1998), is a portrayal of one man's struggle to come to terms with the Hillsborough FA Cup Semi-Final disaster, whilst Hushabye Mountain (1999) deals with a world that has learned to live with AIDS.

Television and film works include: West End Girls (Carlton); Love Junkie (BBC); Beautiful Thing (Channel Four/Island World Productions); the 1998 hit/cult comedy series starring Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus, Gimme Gimme Gimme (Tiger Aspect); Murder Most Horrid (BBC); and Coronation Street (ITV).

He also wrote the book for Closer to Heaven, a stage musical with songs and music written by the Pet Shop Boys. Closer to Heaven ran for nine months at the Arts Theatre in London in 2001 and recently ran in Australia in 2005.

Harvey is a Patron of London-based HIV charity, The Food Chain and a patron of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.

Jonathan Harvey