Matthew Mitcham dives into Fringe World cabaret
Olympic gold medallist Matthew Mitcham is diving in at the deep end at Fringe World 2014, with the world premiere of a cabaret show about his many tumultuous ups and downs.
Mitcham will swap the 10m diving platform for a ukulele in a spiegeltent to lead a musical journey through his life in the sporting spotlight plagued by depression, attempts at self-harm, issues related to his sexuality and his addiction to alcohol and drugs, including crystal meth.
The 25-year-old, one of few Olympians to compete as an openly gay man, is working with UK cabaret star Spanky (Rhys Morgan) and other stage leading lights on the new show Twists and Turns, based on his recent autobiography of the same name.
Mitcham won gold at the 2008 Beijing Games with a record-setting dive but bombed out in London last year when he was afflicted by an abdominal muscle injury. After fending off his demons, he professes to be back at the peak of his powers, with his eyes set on gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games next year and the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Speaking over the phone from Sydney, Mitcham is racing between a development meeting for his cabaret show and a training session ahead of the National Diving Championships, which kick off this Thursday, the same day as the Fringe World 2014 program is launched.
The one-week Perth season of Twists and Turns: The Cabaret in early February fits very neatly in Mitcham's competition calendar.
"When I heard I got the (De Parel Spiegeltent) I was just so excited. The spiegeltent is a very reputable venue and I thought 'Wow, this is really happening'. This is turning out better already than I had hoped for. I want to take this around the country, all around the world, even."
Born and raised in Brisbane, Mitcham made history in Beijing when he came from 30 points behind on his final dive to score 112.10 - the highest score in Olympic history - to win the 10m platform title and rob the Chinese of a full sweep of diving golds.
He was Australia's first male diving Olympic gold medallist since 1924 and the only Olympic diver ever to produce a perfect 10-point score from all judges.
A successful crowd-funding campaign has allowed Mitcham to transfer his book's frank subject matter - the personal demons and crippling depression - into a song-and-dance show with a serious message about mental illness and addiction.
"It was a pretty revealing book and I did hesitate about including some of the details, especially the drug-related information, but I felt like the potential benefits to others outweighed the potential detriment to me," Mitcham says.
"There is this massive stigma around mental illness, depression and addiction, particularly around these issues in sport. I thought the only way to break down a stigma is for more people to talk about it. I thought if I help one person then it is worth it.
"A lot of people don't reach out and tell anyone that they are suffering from depression and anxiety because they feel a lot of shame that it didn't stem from some major trauma. A lot of people are genetically predisposed to depression. There is no shame in that.
"The reason I suffered so long and so unnecessarily was because I just refused to reach out and tell anybody about it. I want to emphasise that the whole show is not all doom and gloom. I wouldn't be doing the show if I wasn't going to have a truckload of fun."
While relatively new to music, Mitcham has always had a performer's instinct, which he says comes alive in international diving competitions. "I live to compete so I guess I have been performing in the pool in front of the world doing my sport for 13 years now," he says.
He took up music, the ukulele in particular, after a 2010 injury laid him up for three months.
"I was just bored out of my gumnuts so I bought a ukulele and taught myself how to play off YouTube. I was always interested in music as a kid but was never given the opportunity to pursue that because diving took up all of my time."
He has a few music videos up on YouTube, including some footage from the London Games, and performed some cabaret spots which culminated in a gig as MC at this year's Melbourne Cabaret Festival Closing Gala.
Mitcham has assembled a top-deck team for Twists and Turns, which was commissioned by the Melbourne Cabaret Festival with designs to tour the world. Director Nigel Turner- Carroll and music director Jeremy Brennan have many credits to their names, as does scriptwriter Rhys Morgan, who is coming to Perth with two shows of his own - Dead Bitches and Candice McQueen: Nasty! - under his stage name Spanky.
Mitcham's Perth shows start at 6pm and he is looking forward to meeting audience members outside the spiegeltent in the Urban Orchard after the show.
"I am culturally green so I am thinking 'Well, what would I want from a show?' So I guess I am trying to bring that out and make it really fun. There is going to be a dance party scene where I want everyone to be out of their seats and dancing.
"I like that it is a nice early slot. I am going to continue to train, two diving sessions a day, while I'm performing in the evening, because the week after I finish in Perth, I am going overseas to compete. I like the early session - I'll be able to get to bed early."
Matthew Mitcham performs Twists and Turns at the De Parel Spiegeltent, Perth Cultural Centre, from February 1-8.
