In The Language Of Love, a young man is supposed to be concentrating on his French exam, but his thoughts are elsewhere, which he tells us about while he delivers a monologue to camera. It’s smart and somewhat moving, as the lad segues from French through to his best friend and his feelings for him. That inevitably causes him to wonder what being gay means and how to negotiate life as a young gay man.

The short is the result of Fresh Ink, a development program for emerging playwrights from the Australian Theatre for Young People. 17-year-old writer/performer Kim Ho was one of the winners of the 2012 monologue competition, Love Bytes, and he’s now been assisted in turning his three-minute entry, Transcendence, into The Language Of Love.

Commenting on the Fresh Ink website, Ho says, “Homosexuality is still a sensitive topic, and I immediately felt pressured to write something that was candid but not disrespectful to the LGBT community. I wanted to write something that would make me cry just like the stunning It’s Time advertisement for marriage equality, something that would resonate with people no matter what their sexuality.”

Take a look at the short above and a ‘making of…’ below. [Read more…]