By Eleanor Wilson
A leap of faith has paid off for a young Hampton Park school teacher, who is set to star in coming-of-age theatre spectacular Choir Boy.
After seven years as a primary school teacher at Narre Warren’s Oatland Primary School, it was the pandemic that pushed Gareth Dutlow to reassess his career aspirations.
“It’s always been there in my heart to follow this dream, but I’ve been playing it safe for a while,” Gaz laughed.
“I went to uni, I did some drama units, but ultimately pivoted towards a more stable career path and fell into teaching.
“I have no regrets, I love kids, I love youth and I love mentoring them, seeing them grow and inspiring them to be whatever they want to be, but over the pandemic I thought I’m nearing 30 – if I want to give it a go I should do it now.”
Tony-nominated play Choir Boy – which was Gaz’s first audition – tells the story of a young gay man of colour, threaded with themes of sexuality, race, hope and gospel.
The play premiered in 2012 at London’s Royal Court Theatre, before seasons across the USA and a successful Broadway production.
For Gaz, who identifies as queer, many of the tropes of the play bear an uncanny resemblance to his own life experience.
The actor and former pastor was raised in the church and tightly connected to his faith, but recently resigned from his pastoral position.
“Everything I was looking for in church, the community and the authenticity, I came to find in other places,” Gaz said.
“Since then I haven’t found the need to find a church service at 10am on a Sunday to grow in my faith and express my faith.”
The Australian premiere of Choir Boy will kick off in Sydney from 14 February to 11 March, before embarking on a national tour – a dream come true for Gaz.
“I’m very excited, thrilled. I’m just filled with anticipation of what it will be like,” Gaz said of his first role on stage.
“This is a dream to perform in capital cities across Australia… it’s something that little Gaz dreamt of and I’m glad I can bring the inner child in me with me on this journey.
“Especially for a show like this, where I can show my faith and my queerness – it’s a match made in heaven.”
Playing the role of Swing, Gaz said he hopes the show can prompt audiences to come together and find common ground.
“At the end of the day, these are human stories and I believe we have far more in common with one another than there are differences,” he said.
“It’s insane to me that I can relate to universal stories as a queer person of colour… we are seeing growth in that space in theatre and screen in Australia and it is becoming increasingly colourful and diverse.”
