Adapted from journalist Shannon Molloy’s 2020 memoirs, Fourteen tells of his experience growing up gay in conservative ‘90s central Queensland. Ahead of the play coming to Adelaide, CityMag spoke with lead actor Conor Leach.

For actor Conor Leach, playing the role of Shannon Molloy in Fourteen has been a deeply personal experience.​​

“It’s been a privilege, honestly, to investigate what Shannon and other queer people in general have had to deal with before us so that we might not have to deal with it so much anymore,” he tells CityMag.

“I’m very fortunate to not have had the depth of devastating experience that Shannon did, but I experienced shades of it growing up. At the end of the day, it’s not about us, it’s about Shannon and Shannon’s story.

“It’s very personally healing in some ways as well and it’s also, as a queer person myself, wonderfully heartening and healing to be able to investigate someone’s actual lived experience like this.”

Conor portrays Shannon in the production Fourteen by Shake & Stir Theatre Co, which makes its way to the Dunstan Playhouse on 7-10 August as part of an Australia-wide tour.

Conor describes the production as a memory play with “the best nineties soundtrack you could ever dream of”.

Fourteen is adapted from Shannon’s 2020 memoir of the same name and retells his experience of growing up gay in this conservative part of Australia during the late ‘90s.

“It’s about his experience – a particularly devastating and harrowing experience – and how he made it through with the help of some amazing friends and family,” says Conor.

Conor is an actor and theatre creator who has been based in Melbourne and his hometown of Brisbane.

After getting his start in community theatre at a young age, Conor enrolled in the Queensland Academy of Creative Industries for high school, where he says his love of theatre was cemented.

He then went to the Victorian College of the Arts to study acting and theatre making and has since appeared in the television series Preacher (2019) and New Gold Mountain (2021).

But it was his role in Samuel Van Grinsven’s 2019 indie film, Sequin in a Blue Room, that caught the attention of Queensland theatre company Shake & Stir Theatre Co.

“Nick and Ross from Shake and Stir reached out to me and asked me to audition for it, which was very, very nice… So I sent a self-tape and then we had a lovely workshop together to discuss the role and I was lucky enough to get it,” Conor says.

That was in 2022, but fast forward two years and Conor still plays the lead role of Shannon in Fourteen, appearing alongside Helen Cassidy, Karen Crone, Judy Hainsworth, Ryan Hodson, Tom Oliver and Steven Rooke.

Fourteen was adapted for the stage by Nelle Lee, Nick Skubij with Shannon Molloy, with Nick also as its director. This picture: Joel Devereux

When Conor landed the role, he had to consider how he would portray Shannon in this vulnerable part of his life.

Conor tells CityMag that the greatest resource when preparing for the role was Shannon’s memoir, but that he also valued input from Shannon himself.

“It’s one of the most staggering pieces of art I’ve ever engaged with. The book is so vulnerable and so vivid and evocative of that time in Shannon’s life” says Conor.

“He [Shannon] helped with the adaptation and was in the rehearsal with us, so it was lovely to be able to pick his brain and feel his energy in the room while talking about his stuff.

“Shannon was very gracious in that he allowed me to make my own version of Shannon that was true to me.”

Conor says that during rehearsals they cut parts of the story and expanded on others, while also developing their characters and discussing the context of central Queensland at the time.

“It was one of the most intense and joyous processes I’ve ever had and this return season has been an opportunity to go deeper and deeper in our work,” he says.

Conor tells CityMag that we first encounter Shannon in the play aged 32 at his wedding, as he reflects back on his fourteenth year of life in the central Queensland town of Yeppoon.

The play recounts Shannon’s experience of intolerance and bullying from teachers and students at his school, leading to internalised homophobia and shame.

“There was a wave of conservatism and intolerance that was in that part of the world at that time,” explains Conor.

“We’re in the middle of our Queensland leg right now and I’m so pleased to say that the atmosphere is much better and the response we got to the show is amazing.”

But it’s the support he receives from his mother Donna, his brother and sister, an empathetic support worker and his “super chaotic and fun-loving” friends that helps Shannon pull through.

“We look at how Shannon actually hid his experience from his friends and family. His friends and family had to do a lot of work to reach him and try and help him out,” says Conor.

“There’s also a love interest that Shannon has in the play named Tom, played by Ryan Hodson – they have a really turbulent relationship throughout the play through which Shannon came into his own and learnt how to respect himself and stand up for himself.”

Conor says the driving message of the play is “it gets better” and “you are always worth it”.

“It’s really a story of Shannon realising again that he deserves to be happy and deserve love,” he says.

Asked why CityMag readers should come and see Fourteen, Conor says that although the play has some heavy themes, it is “one of the most fun nights at the theatre you could ever have”.

“It’s got the full gamut of emotion; we’ve got plenty of nostalgia; the best soundtrack you could ever hope for and just people being their chaotic, filthy, late nineties selves,” he says.

“It’s hilarious. It’s nostalgic. It’s very camp, but it’s also very real in some parts, and you should come along to celebrate how Shannon was able to move through this time in his life, and you might also see a bit of yourself on stage.”