ANDREW Horabin is questioning what it takes to be a man.
It’s a question he’s been asking himself for more than 15 years and has led him on a tour of the country with his one-man musical comedy show What a Man’s Gotta Do.
Horabin says the show explores the transition from boyhood to manhood and issues facing men today.
He came up with the idea for the show after spending time trying to work out why being 21 years old suddenly made him a man.
“When I was 21 I was trying to work out how to be an adult and I couldn’t work it out. The more I explored it, the more I realised it was something the whole country should think about.
“Twenty-one is the magical age when you are meant to become an adult but no one tells you how boys become men. Unless you are a hard-drinking, fast-driving bloke, you feel like you are missing something … like you are not a man.”
The character-based show starts with Adam being given an ultimatum by his fiancee, Lucy, after his buck’s party. Believing Adam will never grow up, Lucy gives him 24 hours to prove he’s a man or the wedding is off. Determined to prove Lucy wrong, Adam asks his friends and family what it takes to become a man.
“Adam’s friends offer no help. The only person who gives him advice is his grandfather, so the show also raises questions about what happened to eldership,” Horabin says.
“We used to listen to advice from old people but now we just have people that we shove out the way because they take too long in the
queue.”
Although he has been performing the show for six years, Horabin says every night is different because he adds in the thoughts of people in the town he’s performing in.
“It gives Werribee a chance to see what the town thinks it takes to become a man.”
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What a Man’s Gotta Do is showing at Wyndham Cultural Centre on September 8 at 7.30pm. Tickets: 97419500
