I’m Ready To Talk Now

I'm Ready To Talk Now

  • Created by Oliver Ayres

    Produced by SKINT

    Lighting & AV Design by Iz Zettl

    Sound & Set Design by STOZ

    Choreography by Penny Baron

  • ​​★★★★★​
    ’A forward thinking creative to watch.’ - TimeOut

    ​​★★★★★​
    ’I didn’t want to leave’ - A Young(ish) Perspective

    ​​★★★★
    ’Calls for more compassion between us all while exemplifying what this can look like in practice’ - The Scotsman

    ​​★★★★
    ’A gentle, radical kind of care’ - Fest Mag

    ​​★★★★
    ’Innovative, empathetic, and profoundly human’ - North Westend UK

    ​​★★★★
    ’Disarmingly intimate and unavoidably involving, 'I’m Ready to Talk Now' is a gently whirring empathy machine’ - The Arts Desk

    ‘You cannot look away’ - The Guardian

    ‘An out-of-body experience … He has a gift for paying attention’ - Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor

    ‘A disarming honesty paired with graceful physical theatre’ - The Age

  • SOLD OUT SEASON - EDINBURGH FRINGE 2025

    WINNER - Best Experimental, Melbourne Fringe 2024

    SOLD OUT SEASON - MELBOURNE FRINGE 2024

    WINNER - Change Maker Award, Presented by Theatre Network Australia, Melbourne Fringe 2024

    NOMINEE - Best Work By An Emerging Artist, Melbourne Fringe 2024

    SOLD OUT SEASON - MELBOURNE FRINGE 2023

    NOMINEE - Best Experimental, Melbourne Fringe 2023

  • 2025:

    Next Wave, Independent Season

    Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Producing in collaboration with QuietRIOT

    2024:

    Darebin FUSE Festival, Proudly supported by the Darebin City Council's FUSE Fund Program (Development Season)

    Melbourne Fringe 2024, Supported by The Melbourne Fringe Cash To Create

    2023:

    Melbourne Fringe 2023, Supported by The Melbourne Fringe Cash To Create (Progress Showing)

  • ‘I will be thinking about this show for the rest of my life. Thoughtfully, lovingly, painfully, beautifully created’

    ‘What an honour to experience Oliver's work, where every little detail is designed with intention and purpose’

    ‘Oliver has created a masterful, unique piece that was truly a privilege to experience as a disabled, chronically ill theatre goer’

    ‘Uniquely crafted and expressed, a show that’s as much about art making as it is the self’

    ‘Everyone should see this. Everyone. A beautiful, safe space created by Oliver from start to finish. Truly a life-altering experience’

    ‘Such a thought provoking work exploring shared humanity and experiences of loss, grief and hope’

    ‘I felt connected. Seen. Visible. Care. Terror. Awe. Warmth. Hope. Optimism…Oliver is a genius and you should follow his work closely’

    ‘I felt invited into the centre of Oliver’s grief and catharsis and was deeply moved by the experience’

    ‘Impossible to describe. Achingly beautiful and vulnerable. Changed the way I think about storytelling’

An experimental one-on-one piece exploring chronic illness and identity

Set inside of a hospital room, audiences experience the work one at a time, alone with the artist, as he tells the story of being diagnosed with a rare, severe and chronic immune condition - in his very first year of starting testosterone.

Through music, projection, and physical theatre, this radical act of connection blurs the lines between audience and performer, theatre and installation art, and stands boldly outside of ordinary theatrical conventions.

With access as its core guiding principle, each performance can be spontaneously altered: offering relaxed performances, tactile tours, audio description and captioning on demand. Audience members can leave the space at any time.

Photos by Iz Zettl

A young man with curly hair and a mustache is wearing a white tank top and a silver chain necklace in a dark setting with colorful, blurry lights in the background.
Young person with curly hair and a mustache, wearing a sleeveless white shirt, is illuminated by light on their face and hands, with a dark background.
A young person with curly hair is dimly lit by a projection. Their hands are covering their face while they look down and away from the camera.
A man with curly hair wearing a white sleeveless top, seen through a mesh or screen. He appears to be in a dark room with some colored lights in the background.
A point of view photo taken from someone in a bed with embroidery on the blanket covering them. In front of the bed is a screen with a projection of the outside of a tall building at night. Some of the lights in the building are on, some are off.
A person with curly hair wearing beige pants and a sleeveless shirt is standing on a wooden floor, raising their fists in the air. Their shadow is cast on the yellow wall to the left. To the right, there is a large rectangular object with a grid of s

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