Guy and John’s breakup is an anti-love story that begins with Guy, an alternative cabaret artist, searching for the perfect breakup song to cope with … his breakup.
Guy’s ex-partner, John, is pursuing a PhD in gay relationships. To celebrate the completion of John’s research, they invite his mentor and his attractive new boyfriend. The four of them engage in lively banter, exchange ideas, and enjoy a few too many drinks, resulting in heightened sexual tension between the couples. This atmosphere reveals Guy and John’s frustrations with their relationship and unfulfilled desires.
When the inevitable breakup occurs, Guy must accept it and find the words to mourn and celebrate his relationship—ultimately, he expresses it through a song.
The play examines themes like queer relationships, the challenges of being queer in a heteronormative society, and the ongoing desire for excitement in modern relationships.
We caught up with writer and director, Gur Arie Piepskovitz, and asked him one simple question.
What made you write Earworm?
Honestly, the idea for the play came after a breakup. The mind is everywhere: sadness, sex, spirituality, intermittent fasting, plant growing, and most of all, music.
Instead of picking the scabs of my breakup and ruminating over mistakes, I scratched for sounds and lyrics—the more familiar and epic, the better. My mind started exploding with this emotional bulimia, but I had no capacity or poise to write down anything other than a quick verse on a Post-it.
But how is an LGBTQI+ ending different from any other breakup? So far, it all seems to be the same; however, a “gay” breakup might remind the individual that, as they suspected as a child, they were born to be ‘other’ and, therefore, lonely.
As time went by, I started healing, and as part of my process, I read Out Of The Shadows by Walt Odets, recommended by practically everyone on Hinge. This masterpiece highlighted so much about how some of us queer people are afraid to be loved, how we are not accustomed collectively to having intimacy, so much so that losing a relationship becomes part of our subconscious fantasy, perpetuating our fear and cycle of not feeling wanted.
I had to admit that my obsession with songs was yet another way of creating a fantasy around a loss. This insight is poured into the protagonist’s confusion between love, validation and performance.
I hope you’ll find the show heartwarming, funny at times, and relatable. It could also leave you with a bittersweet feeling, which may be true for every recovery journey, artistic process, and romantic relationship. Either way, I promise you, it was made with love.
Earworm is playing from 29 – 30 May 2025 at King’s Head Theatre, 33 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8BJ, United Kingdom.
All images supplied.
