Fourteen the musical to hit the Pilbeam Theatre stage in Rockhampton

A traumatic year of a Central Queensland born and raised man’s life has been adapted into a “harrowing and uplifting” musical, with the show about to hit the stage in his hometown.

Judy Hainsworth, Conor Leach and Amy Ingram on stage for Fourteen . Photo: Joel Devereux

Being “the only gay in the village” in an “NRL-mad” all boys’ school in the 90s in a regional town were some of the hardest years of Shannon Molloy’s life.

But fast-forward to 2024 and a time of turmoil has become a fun stage show reminiscing the bad times, the fun times and the classic tunes of the era, with the message that the bad times do get better.

Fourteen, a 90-minute musical, is based on journalist and author Shannon’s best-selling memoir about a time in his life where he was bullied while a student at St Brendan’s College on the Capricorn Coast, near Rockhampton.

“It’s about a year of my life growing up in Yeppoon in the late 90s being, kind of, the classic only gay in the village, I didn’t really know it I was still figuring myself out and terrified about it all, but it wasn’t too hard for others to figure out,” he said.

“It made it quite things quite difficult, especially going to all boys, NRL-mad, catholic school, so it charts a pretty harrowing and heartbreaking, at times, experience of daily bullying and torment, and physical violence.

Shannon Molloy. Photo: Joel Devereux

“But it’s also about how I survived that year, I had a couple of great girlfriends who lifted me up when I was down, I had an incredible mum who was my biggest cheerleader and plenty of late 90s, cheesy pop music to get me through as well.”

Shannon released his book in 2000, which was then turned into a musical for Brisbane Festival in 2022.

He said writing the book allowed him to reflect on the hard times but also remember the fun and funny times he forgot.

“I thought that I was over it and, being a long time since Yeppoon and high school, when I sat down to write the book I realised pretty quickly a lot of the hurt was still below the surface,” he said.

“But at the same time being able to remember those small happy moments and those moments of kindness and even the funny moments, it was incredible because I forgot about those.

“I looked back at my time growing up in Yeppoon as just being this entirely horrible experience and, of course, that wasn’t the case sometimes all you remember is the pain and the bad stuff and it can cloud over the really lovely moments and so it was quite a therapeutic process in the end… it just made me think about home in a different way.

“Now I look back on that place with much more fondness than I ever thought I would and that’s good because I still have a lot of family in the region.”

Amy Ingram, Conor Leach & Judy Hainsworth. Photo: Joel Devereux

Shannon said the musical adaptation was supposed to just be a one-off for the event, but the show is now in the midst of a four-month, 20-stop national tour which includes his home town of Rockhampton.

“It’s so surreal, I’ve seen the show so many times now but it still packs a punch every time I get to sit down and watch it with a couple of hundred other people,” he said.

“But I think seeing that whole year condensed into 90 minutes is almost quite therapeutic because the hard parts are there, but there’s also love and kindness and really funny moments.

“That’s kind of like life, life is dark and light and the important thing to remember, and what this show tells us, is it always gets better, the hard times don’t last forever and you just have to hang on and keep fighting and that’s true for everyone going through a tough time no matter who they are.”

Shannon said he never though the show would come to the “iconic” stage of the Pilbeam Theatre, a place that was part of his own childhood.

“To see it come to life on the stage is one thing to have it go to the Pilbeam Theatre, which is such an icon of my childhood and adolescence, is just amazing,” he said.

“Anyone who knows Rocky and Yeppoon will love the show because there’s so much nostalgia, whether it’s talking about Shopping Fair, or talking about the old Twin Cinema and how fun that was for young people, there’s plenty of throwbacks I think people will recognise and really love.

Conor Leach and Shannon Molloy. Photo: Joel Devereux

“The show is equal parts harrowing and uplifting, yes there are some dark moments but there are so many laughs, some incredibly choreographed dance sequences, there are about 20 really cheesy, but iconic late 90s pop songs, it’s fun, it’ll make you think, it’ll make you dance in your seat.”

Fourteen will play at the Pilbeam Theatre on Wednesday July 24 at 7.30pm.

Tickets are available on the theatre’s website or at the box office.

Many of the NRL’s notable talents attended the school including Ben Hunt and Harry Grant.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Yeppoon, as an urban centre and locality, had a population of 10,656 but this number rose to 18,789 in the 2021 census.