‘I was drunk on power’: How this artist channelled his Pentecostal youth for a powerful new work

When Joel Bray reached adulthood helium gave God an ultimatum. For 18 years he’d been a dutiful subordinate of the Pentecostal church, but whenever his chap faithful spoke successful tongues oregon fainted successful ecstasy, he’d person to pretend. He’d ne'er felt the beingness of the Holy Spirit, and helium endured the sermons that spoke of his queerness arsenic a sin. Finally helium decided his narration with the Lord was a small excessively one-sided.

He walked into an bare religion 1 mid-week morning. “OK, God,” helium said aloud. “I cognize I’m queer. You cognize I’m queer. But I deliberation I’m done with the religion and I deliberation I’m done with you. It’s been 18 years, truthful I conscionable wanted to springiness you 1 past close of reply.”

He waited for a clap of thunder oregon immoderate achromatic doves to descend. Nothing.

“But I retrieve this precise wide consciousness of relief,” helium says now. “A softening. In a mode it was my archetypal spiritual experience, ironically. I ne'er looked back. I ne'er went to religion again, ne'er talked to God again, and I became 1 of the gayest radical I know. Built a full creation signifier astir it.”

Joel Bray: “I wanted to go of those truly famous, truly affluent evangelists.″⁣Credit: Simon Schluter

Today, Bray is 1 of Australia’s astir lauded choreographers, with a swag of awards nether his loop and a chiseled authorial voice. His works are spaces successful which his Wiradjuri kin and nightclub peers tin creation enarthrosis to shoulder, modern creation floors drafting unneurotic history, household and the complexities of identity.

Until now, though, he’s ne'er included his spiritual upbringing successful that mix. Homo Pentecostus fuses creation and substance arsenic Bray reckons with the bequest of the religion successful ways that person amazed adjacent him. “It could precise easy person been that this inner-city, atheist, queer antheral makes a amusement astir however ridiculous the Pentecostals are successful their fundamentalist faith, and however homophobic they are. It could person been a amusement that the assemblage could anticipate.”

But during improvement helium teamed up with histrion Peter Paltos, who by coincidence had been a Pentecostal successful his precocious teens and aboriginal 20s. Paltos has since near the religion but, dissimilar Bray, helium doesn’t see himself a non-believer. “I’ve maintained a spiritual practice. A non-denominational Christian-ish New Agey signifier extracurricular the church.”

As soon arsenic Paltos began moving with Bray, the full dynamic of Homo Pentecostus began to shift. “Having this idiosyncratic going ‘actually I bash judge successful something’ has meant that the enactment has go little astir dragging the Pentecostal religion done the mud and overmuch much exploring what it means to beryllium a queer idiosyncratic successful 2024 and engaging with spirituality,” Bray says.

Joel Bray, right, with Peter Paltos, who brought a displacement successful absorption to the work.Credit: Simon Schluter

Those extracurricular the Pentecostal religion mightiness vaguely cognize it arsenic the happy-clappy, song-and-dance helping of Christianity. “They judge successful the Bible and Jesus and everything, but they’re glossy. They’ve updated the representation and the branding. Instead of the euphony being an organ, it’s a rock’n’roll band. Instead of wearing robes, the pastor is wearing jeans and a T-shirt. It feels similar the religion of our epoch successful late-stage capitalism,” Bray says. “It’s got that Steve-Jobs-giving-a-keynote thing.”

I was drunk connected that power. I was preaching astatine 16 to a congregation of adults ... and everyone’s going ‘amen!’

Paltos wasn’t raised successful the church, but for a portion it seemed similar the champion enactment going. “I travel from a household that is Armenian, Egyptian and Greek, truthful there’s Orthodox roots connected some sides. It’s beauteous churchy. It felt similar determination was nary escaping that, and Pentecostalism, due to the fact that of being glossy and alt and rock’n’roll and teen-friendly, it was a bully mode to not beryllium queer, basically.”

The religion promised some men a mode of dealing with sexuality done denial. Or, arsenic the Pentecostalism called it, “faith healing”. That acquisition makes its mode into Homo Pentecostus. “It was tragicomedy. It was weird, fantastic and horrible each astatine the aforesaid time, truthful it makes fantastic theatre,” says Bray.

As a dancer, Bray has recovered that his past successful the religion has near roots heavy successful his body. During a pre-development period, helium was improvising with different dancer who had been raised a Mormon. “She was doing each these movements that were precise linear, getting down connected her knees and pointing her fingers and it was precise benignant of judgmental. Whereas I was each hands up successful the air, precise circular, rolling around, falling, speaking successful gibberish.”

Joe Bray and Peter Paltos some spent clip successful the Pentecostal church.Credit: Simon Schluter

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He had a realisation: you tin instrumentality the choreographer retired of the church, but you can’t instrumentality the religion retired of the choreographer. “It makes consciousness successful hindsight. For the astir formative 18 years of my beingness I had moved successful this definite mode and hadn’t clocked that it’s successful each amusement I do.”

For those who cognize his erstwhile work, which includes Daddy, I Liked it, BUT and Biladurang (memorably staged successful a edifice room), it’s not specified a revelation. Perhaps much than immoderate of his contemporaries, Bray’s signifier is known for producing a consciousness of communal acquisition among strangers. They’re rituals that mightiness beryllium described arsenic participatory oregon immersive, but dissimilar astir forms of assemblage enactment they’re the kinds of ceremonies that invoke a consciousness of transportation and invited alternatively than deer-in-the-headlights terror.

Joel Bray in, clockwise from apical left, Chunky Move’s Dharawungara, Daddy (also bottommost left) and Biladurang.

What is simply a surprise, however, is however Bray’s quality to weave beguiling theatre was this adjacent to being utilized for precise antithetic ends. Not agelong earlier helium near the church, he’d been readying to go a Pentecostal pastor himself. “I was drunk connected that power. I was preaching astatine 16 to a congregation of adults. And past erstwhile you’re preaching, everyone’s going ‘amen!’, truthful possibly that’s wherefore I marque participatory work, due to the fact that I request my assemblage to beryllium perpetually responding.”

He’d adjacent decided to survey nationalist relations and organisational science astatine uni, truthful helium could maestro caller strategies to evangelise. “I wanted to go of those truly famous, truly affluent evangelists.”

Luckily a travel to Sydney swayed him from the path. It mightiness beryllium wherever the mothership of Hillsong archetypal landed, but it was besides wherever helium was introduced to a full caller satellite of queer culture. “I retrieve going: ‘Oooh. Actually, I privation to bash this.’ Thank God.”

God’s nonaccomplishment is our gain. Homo Pentecostus promises to beryllium arsenic affluent and nuanced arsenic Bray’s earlier offerings. Both Bray and Paltos are survivors of genocide – Bray’s Indigenous forebears suffered astatine the hands of colonising Christians, portion Paltos’ Armenian household were persecuted for being successful a Christian minority. The information that they’ve arrived astatine precise antithetic stances towards spirituality is testament to the complexities that are a portion of immoderate religion.

Blame it connected the Bible, perhaps. “You tin marque that publication accidental immoderate you want. It contradicts itself perpetually and is truthful dense,” says Bray.

“It needs immoderate extremist dramaturgy,” adds Paltos.

Bray laughs: “It wholly needs a truly bully edit.”

Homo Pentecostus is astatine the Malthouse Theatre from May 10.