Growing up gay is not for sissies. 

Wanaka’s Michael Metzger knew this in 1970s rural Otago, and he knows it still holds true, so he is gratified his one-man play, The Changing Shed, about overcoming the long-term effects of bullying, is touching a chord.

Michael’s ‘day job’ is business writing, but he has managed to complete a Masters degree and PhD in the past seven years.

“I had a corporate career but retained an interest in theatre,” Michael told the Wanaka App. “I went back to university and did my masters then my PhD - it’s amazing what you can do from Wanaka.”

His childhood memories, woven together with the present-day experience of training for and running a marathon, formed the creative component for his PhD, and The Changing Shed is the theatrical result.

Michael practiced some of the on-stage challenges at Wanaka gym The Fit Collective.

Michael presented a 20-minute excerpt from the play at the UNESCO Cities of Literature Short Play Festival in Dunedin in 2019, which was nominated for Outstanding Performance at that year’s Dunedin Theatre Awards. The Dunedin Fringe Festival this coming weekend will be the first public performance of the full-length work.

After struggling during the first year of his PhD to work out what he should focus on, Michael hit on the idea of exploring his experiences at school, and “it just all came together”.

“I was what you’d probably describe as an effeminate boy - not interested in doing traditional boys’ activities. I stood out,” he said.

The consequences were being bullied and excluded

“I missed out on the opportunity to enjoy physical activity, but I was so terrified of the changing shed and that whole experience that I avoided sport as much as possible.”

“The changing shed is an unregulated space. It’s designed for privacy - there’s no supervision, so you end up with a Lord of the Flies scenario, where boys will be boys - and boys can be horrid.

Michael on stage.

“That’s why the changing shed has become the central metaphor of the piece,” he said.

Michael has been heartened by the reaction to the play. People find it moving, and he has even received emails from strangers about it.

“I have interesting conversations with people afterwards. I feel it is touching a chord.”

His reading for his PhD highlighted that homophobic bullying remains an issue in schools.

“I would love to perform it in a school gym for 15 to 17-year-olds,” he said. “When you’re at school it’s your entire world and it feels like it will never end. It isn't forever, and if you survive it you have the opportunity to find your community.”

After missing out on sport at school, later in life Michael (now in his 50s) did a couple of marathons in Queenstown and got involved in a running group.

“People came together on the course and supported each other - it was a very different experience of sport.” 

He believes the overlay of the marathon experience in the play brings a hopeful element.

The show has been a three year process, and while Michael wrote, directed, produced and will perform in it, he said he has had a lot of input from others along the way.

Wanaka gym The Fit Collective has been “wonderfully supportive”, he said, and provides a space for him to practice some of the technical on-stage challenges such as boxing and running while talking.

“I’m the crazy guy who runs on the treadmill talking all the time,” he said.

There are four opportunities to see The Changing Shed at the Dunedin Fringe Festival.

PHOTOS: Jordan Wichman