Lachlan Parry’s Straight Panic, a comedic triptych of short plays, opens at the Popsy this week. Usually one of ATYP’s rehearsal rooms, this intimate space converts into an effective black-box studio (a new initiative under recent Artistic Director Hayden Tonazzi).

Director Lily Hayman, who previously staged the lively [YOUR NAME] at KXT in 2024, returns to similar territory (new writing about young people in the 2000s), bringing across several of the same creatives, including lighting designer Tyler Fitzpatrick and performers Andrew Fraser and Evelina Singh. Esha Jessy, Pierse Cant and Emma Kew complete the cast. Hayman’s charismatic and funny ensemble is, on its own, reason enough to see this show.

ATYP’s Straight Panic. Photo © Phil Erbacher

Parry, an emerging playwright, delivers three self-contained plays, with performers doubling roles. The tone is satirical, a playful jest at straight people and the (often absurd) ways their homophobia manifests in the early 2000s. An urgent meeting is called among the retail staff at Myer George St to address how to discourage gay men from meeting up in their bathrooms. The adult siblings of a conservative MP have their family Christmas disrupted by shocking...