Remembering Brent Anthony Thorpe (1962

Lyn Pierse, James Forbes and Adam Cook reflect on one of Australia’s most uncompromising and intellectually adventurous theatre-makers, Brent Thorpe, who died aged 63.

An actor, comedian, writer and producer, Thorpe spent four decades challenging theatrical convention, interrogating social hypocrisy and insisting on theatre as a place of risk, wit and philosophical inquiry.

In an era increasingly dominated by commercial polish and digital distraction, his work stood defiantly apart—irreverent, caustic and deeply human.

Born in 1962 and raised in Sydney’s inner west, Marrickville and Earlwood, Thorpe was drawn to performance from an early age. His grandmother took him to live theatre every Saturday for years.

This fostered a lifelong obsession with stagecraft and theatrical history. He developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of performance, retaining programs, casts and creative details from thousands of productions he attended across decades.

As a teenager, he was galvanised by numerous groundbreaking theatrical works, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Reg Livermore in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Betty Blokk- Buster Follies, Lindsay Kemp’s Our Lady of the Flowers, and the confrontational energy of punk rock provocateurs, Jimmy and the Boys.

These productions revealed theatre as a space for transgression, provocation and belonging—an ethos that would define his own work.

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From studying to the stage

Thorpe studied Queer Theory at Macquarie University, sharpening a critical framework that informed his writing and performance throughout his career. In his early adulthood, he began performing in drag and experimental cabaret, developing a flamboyant, fearless stage presence and a sharp instinct for audience psychology.

In the late 1990s, he undertook stand-up comedy training with Lyn Pierse at The Actors Centre, quickly establishing himself on the Sydney comedy circuit. Within a year, he was a RAW Comedy finalist, recognised for his instinctive timing, incisive writing and theatrical delivery.

He further developed his writing through NIDA’s Playwrights Studio, where he wrote Scratch and Sniff, and soon began producing original work that fused satire, classical structure and social critique. He reworked his earlier version of The Fabulous Punch and Judy Show.

In 2008, the full-length production, directed by Anthony Skuse with Billy O’Riordan as musical director, premiered at the Cleveland Street Performance Space to sell-out audiences and critical acclaim. Thorpe would revisit Punch and Judy in multiple iterations over subsequent years, presenting the work in Sydney, Edinburgh and other festivals.

Thorpe also staged his own version of Jean Genet’s Flowers at Lan Franchies Warehouse and performed in a three-man production of The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde at the Edinburgh Festival.

Increasingly, however, he focused on his own original material, including Betcha Thought I Was Dead, Too Old for TV and Beauty! Glamour! Fame!, as well as the outsized satirical persona of Brenda Trolloppe.

Hello Daddy

Alongside his performance work, Thorpe maintained an unusually broad creative practice. He directed for Lane Cove Theatre Company, curated museum installations for institutions including the Australian Museum and Penrith Regional Gallery, wrote and performed The Rocks Ghost Tours, and worked across design, construction and visual installation.

A meticulous collaborator and practical problem solver, he was equally at home building sets, painting walls or commanding a stage.

In his later years, Thorpe worked with Kevin Jackon when he turned his attention to documenting the history of gay Sydney, combining personal testimony with cultural analysis. This work culminated in Daddy, created in collaboration with director Adam Cook.

Drawing on Thorpe’s experiences as a man in his sixties navigating contemporary gay culture, Daddy confronted aging, desire and visibility in a youth-obsessed community. Unafraid to critique the very world he inhabited, Thorpe exposed posturing and pretence with humour and precision, insisting that theatre must confront darkness as well as light.

Daddy played to sell-out audiences and rave reviews across Edinburgh, Adelaide, Sydney, Dublin, Brighton Pride, the Melbourne Comedy Festival, Midsumma Festival and Sydney WorldPride, including a four-star review in The Scotsman. The work firmly established Thorpe on the international stage.

Brent Thorpe died on 6 January 2026, at the height of his creative powers. He is survived by his partner, Travis de Jonk, his mother Pam, sister Belinda and family.

A public celebration of Brent’s life will be announced soon.

Thorpe leaves behind a body of work that resists simplification, refuses sentimentality and demands attention—an enduring testament to theatre as an art of risk, intelligence and truth.