With Flat Earthers: The Musical, Lou Wall combines online conspiracy theories with musical theatre

Lou Wall didn't own a laptop until they were 16 years old, in year 11. Now aged 28, they're chronically online.

"I don't think I'm abnormal in that sense. I think everyone is extremely online, whether you admit it or not," they say.

Online culture is rich fodder for the comedian and composer, who is making a name for themself by incorporating its visual language and fast pace into their multimedia musical comedy.

They pepper their live shows with memes and have turned their online exploits into material, from trolling Illuminati groups online to a Facebook Marketplace mishap involving a free bed that spilled into real life.

It's gaining them fans and critical acclaim: Their latest hour of stand-up, The Bisexual's Lament, won the top prize at the Sydney Comedy Festival earlier this year and was up for best show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Wall again mines the virtual world in their new — and first ever — musical, Flat Earthers: The Musical, which they describe as "Romeo and Juliet for lesbians on the internet".

"It's, like, batshit-crazy, super-heartfelt and, at its core, it's a lesbian love story."

It's on now at Sydney's Hayes Theatre Co, in a co-production with Griffin Theatre Company.

The musical follows Flick (Manali Datar) and Ria (Shannen Alyce Quan) as they fall in love online – except Flick is a conspiracy theorist, who believes the earth is flat (the "flat earther" of the title).

"I think conspiracies are really interesting," says Wall. "And I think we've seen a rise in them during the last five years, essentially since [ex-US president Donald] Trump's first term. It used to be you were five degrees of separation from a conspiracist. Now, I would say everyone probably has someone in their family who believes some type of conspiracy.

"And I wanted to put them in music theatre because I think they're just so camp. And I was like, 'Who would I want to see tap dance?' And it is definitely flat earthers."

Wall developed Flat Earthers with their ex, playwright Jean Tong (and musician James Gales), over the course of five years.

But it's a fruitful creative partnership – if no longer a romantic one. The pair offer feedback on each other's projects, and made Dramageddon together in 2020, a podcast about how queer women and non-binary people would survive the climate apocalypse.

"Jean is a genius in terms of structure and narrative," says Wall. "And for me, whose brain is just like, 'I love songs', it's been so nice to work with someone who has all the technical skill that also allows me to put in batshit-crazy ideas."

Moving to stand-up

Growing up in Cooma, in regional NSW, Wall hadn't been exposed to queer theatre or comedy. Instead, they grew up a fan of Mike Myers movies like Cat in the Hat and Shrek, and watched Fawlty Towers with their parents.

"I didn't know I was queer," they say. "[But I] knew I didn't fit into my hometown."

A love of drama in high school — and participating in a stand-up comedy workshop at the local library — motivated them to audition for drama school. It was there they "found [their] people" and started to come to terms with their identity.

The year after they graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, Wall met their future collaborators after being cast in Tong and Gale's lesbian pop musical, Romeo Is Not the Only Fruit.

The show opened in Melbourne on the day of the 'Yes' result in the marriage-equality plebiscite, and went on to tour the Brisbane Festival and regional Victoria.

It proved a turning point for Wall.

"When we were touring it, it was just so lovely to see little, gay, feral kids be seen," they say. "I was just like, 'That's actually who I want to make theatre for'."

That same year, they decided to try stand-up comedy, bringing their first hour, about abortion, to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

"I don't think I'm a very good actor. I think I do perform myself well … [and] stand-up is so accessible. It is often free, so all my poor friends could also see it, and it's super-cheap to put on."

Now, Wall is part of a wave of visible non-binary and queer women comedians on Australian stages and screens: including Hannah Gadsby, Zoë Coombs Marr and Geraldine Hickey.

"Kids in my hometown will grow up and look at that [wave] and be like, 'Oh, there is queer comedy out there' … For me, there was no-one really to look up to, [except], there absolutely was, but I just wasn't seeing them."

Wall is thrilled that the efforts of trailblazing queer artists — both in theatre and comedy — mean they were able to write Flat Earthers, a story that "isn't about homophobia or tragedy or gender identity or sexual orientation politics at all".

"People that have come before me — people like Hannah , Zoë and Magda [Szubanski] — carved out this path, and it would have been f**king brutal," Wall says.

Finding success

While Tong and Wall's collaboration birthed Flat Earthers, their break-up was the catalyst for Wall's recent award-winning comedy show, The Bisexual's Lament.

It's about the year they split up, 2023, as chronicled through 69 things that made them laugh through the pain.

While it was a year Wall dubbed the worst of their life, they started to see career success, earning their first TV presenting gig on ABC TV's WTFAQ.

"Being on TV, it changed my life, but it [also] changed my mum's life," says Wall. "The whole time, Mum has been like, 'Yeah, yeah, my daughter's doing stand-up, yeah, they're going really well'. And no one in town believes her. And then once I did a TV show, everyone was like, 'Oh, OK, Mrs Wall'."

But it was making and performing The Bisexual's Lament that helped Wall cope with their difficult year, which also entailed being evicted and sexual assault.

Their win at the Sydney Comedy Festival came out of the blue. "It was just the best month," they say. "I was in a place where I really started feeling like I got my comedy mojo."

Next month, Wall brings the show to Soho Theatre in London – where they moved just before this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

"For my kind of stuff, which is a bit more off the wall, there's just more opportunities over there, so I'm just gonna give it a go," they say.

They're also working on their next hour of stand-up, which they'll tour to Australian comedy festivals next year. They also hope to one day write their own TV show.

"My long-term trajectory is just to keep making my own work. It gives me more agency," they say.

For now, Wall is a part of another wave of artists shaking up the arts industry, joining women and non-binary writers including Yve Blake, Laura Murphy and Hannah Reilly who are creating distinctly Australian musical theatre.

"Without their musicals, there was no f**king way we would have got funding, or would have even been able to get up [Flat Earthers]."

Flat Earthers: The Musical is at Hayes Theatre until November 9.