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Theatre Watch: Reject Me, Already

A choose-your-own-adventure rom-com.

Means Happy

Jul 31, 2024 — 6 min read

Welcome to the romcom musical where you play the matchmaker!

"Reject Me, Already" is an original musical that follows the story of Cameron and Casey - two hopeless romantics looking for their soulmates.

The twist in this production is that the audience decides who plays which role and who ends up with who.

With six actors and six roles, there are countless variations on the way that this story can be told.

We spoke with Paul Richard Keegan - writer and composer of the musical - for a behind-the-scenes look at the production.

This is a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure romantic musical - how challenging was it to write everything as gender-neutral so that anyone in the cast could step into any role?

The process has been nothing but incredibly fulfilling.

The first step for me in any show is character - who are the people, what do they want, and what do they do to get there?

Our leads - Casey and Cameron - are two down-on-their-luck, hopeless romantics.

Once that foundation was set, that’s when we started having really wonderful conversations and workshops to make sure that the material worked no matter the performer.

Like any new musical, there’s going to be workshopping and changes and note sessions - the only difference here was that on top of analysing dialogue and lyrics and comedy and pacing, I was also making sure that we were telling this love story with authenticity and respect.

I was afforded the luxury of having an incredible company that were all open to and comfortable with jumping in and adding their voices to the conversation, suggesting alternatives or their own insights.

Collaboration is crucial for me as a writer, and this experience gave me that in a really thrilling way.

Romantic comedies tend to follow a bit of a formula, but you're deliberately centring "underdog" characters as your protagonists - does that require a rethink of the rules of romantic comedies?

Sort of! The rom-com genre comes with a lot of “rules,” as you say - the meet-cute, the misunderstanding, the reconciliation - and I really wanted to write a show that worked within those rules. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, I just wanted to put my own spin on it, my own take.

When you picture a rom-com, you can visualise it, you know? You can visualise the tall businessman - usually fond of trench coats - who falls for the small-town girl - usually a farmer, or a baker for some reason. They fall for each other, then a lie gets discovered, there’s a falling out, and so on. That’s all great, but I wanted to do something different.

People always say “write what you know,” and what I know is being awkward, and introverted, and self-conscious - never feeling good enough, like I’m constantly doing or saying the wrong thing.

Suddenly, that sounded like a fun idea for a rom-com. I could still follow all of the rules, but in my own way. Maybe the misunderstanding wasn’t caused by a lie, or by our characters trying to hide something - maybe it could be caused by self-doubt, by thinking they aren’t worthy of this wonderful love they find. Self-sabotage, in a way. And our meet-cute could be charming, but in an awkward and endearing sort of way.

Everything you want from a rom-com is there, but hopefully in a fresh, relatable way.

The set-up of each performance requires the audience to assign which cast-member plays which role. What information do you give to the audience to help them make those choices?

This is where our incredible cast really gets to shine.

Before every show, each of our actors will introduce themselves to the crowd so that the audience can get a sense of their personalities, and the energy they’ll bring to each part - likes, dislikes, favourite movies - sort of “first date” talking points.

We want to set the tone immediately that this show is fast and fun, and that nothing is staged - the audience decides every night who plays which part.

We’re still experimenting with best practices for the “voting” process, but we’re having a lot of fun figuring it out.

I can’t wait for audiences at the Fringe to play with us and feel like a part of the story.

The gender-blind/sexuality-blind approach to casting illustrates the notion of "love is love" but is there a danger that it plays into a heteronormative view of the world?

While at its core the text and the plot will stay the same for each show, we’ve really tried to craft something malleable and universal.

The beauty of having six different performers rotating through every role is that they can base the characters on their own identities.

A gay Cameron looking for love with a same-sex partner will have different motivations than a straight Cameron seeking an opposite-sex partner.

These conversations have been ongoing since day one - they’ve been built into our rehearsal time, which was really important to me. I wanted to create a safe rehearsal room where everyone felt heard and comfortable to speak about their own experiences.

A big part of the decision to use gender-blind/sexuality-blind casting was to remove blinders from queer love stories - to have a queer love story full of light and joy and love.

It’s our goal to illuminate the complexities of love within the spectrum of queerness. We have only open ears, minds, and hearts for the LGBTQ+ experience and hope to honour the intricacies and intimacies of those stories, while letting this show be fun, and romantic, and silly, and feel-good.

I’ve loved working with this company to delve into how these challenges change from couple to couple. No two couples are the same, but the one thing we’re all looking for is love.

What do you hope that people feel when they come and see Reject Me, Already?

I just hope people leave feeling happy. The show is light, it’s romantic, it’s fun - it’s comfort food.

If folks leave with a smile on their face, I’ll be happy. If they leave feeling moved, or having connected with the story and the characters, that’ll mean a lot too.

This show was always meant to be a musical comedy about people that don’t get to lead musical comedies, and hopefully that resonates.