Writer and actor Hamish Annan reveals how a shocking violation of consent inspired his new theatre production Before We Begin. 

It’s strange to think that a humorous piece of theatre could come from the darkness of being filmed in a most intimate moment without consent, but that’s exactly how Hamish Annan came to create his latest show. When the writer and actor discovered he had been videoed without his permission during sex, he was sickened at the calculated nature of the act. Months later, after struggling with the vulnerability required to share such a traumatic experience with those closest to him, Annan was inspired to create Before We Begin, a solo work of contemporary interactive theatre that asks its audience to explore intimacy (especially queer intimacy), consent and relationships, laughing their way through these issues together.  

“I think a lot of people go, ‘Consent? Funny? How do those two things work?’” Annan tells The Spinoff ahead of Before We Begin’s three-night run at Auckland’s Basement Theatre next week. Before We Begin relies on audience participation to create experimental theatre that is both silly and playful, but the show is underpinned by Annan’s “really shitty” experience of consent violation. Annan realised he had been secretly filmed when he noticed a hidden home security camera as he was leaving after the encounter. Shocked and horrified, he reported the incident to police, but ultimately decided not to take the case any further. 

As an award-winning theatre maker and artist, Annan often uses his own life to inspire his work, but developing Before We Begin, which debuted at Auckland Pride in 2025, allowed him to reclaim that traumatic experience. There’s a power in deliberately choosing to be vulnerable, Annan believes, and as nerve-racking as it is to share such a personal experience in such a public manner (he still hasn’t told all of the people in his life about it), the show aims to encourage conversations about how intimacy and consent can be done better. Before We Begin isn’t about Annan rehashing his trauma every night, but rather, using humour and play to practise how emotional vulnerability can lead to more authentic and meaningful connections.

“The show is actually about the deepening of friendships and to wave a signal to go, ‘hey, this is not OK, and look how much different and better it could be’,” he says. It’s all about the juxtaposition of joy and silliness alongside the more serious moments of structured discomfort. “We need to see the dark in order to go, ‘oh wow, there is so much light’.” 

Annan describes Before We Begin as “Taskmaster meets Sex Education”, with the work unfolding as a series of experimental invitations between the audience and himself. These invitations begin gently, starting with a humble handshake or a flirty Instagram DM, and then start to escalate in intimacy. Audience participation is always optional and voluntary. “The fun of it is that you don’t quite know what you’re volunteering for, but we explore that together,” says Annan. “It could be a ‘yes’, it could be a ‘maybe’, it could be ‘absolutely not’, and we champion that”. The show explores consent through consent itself, and Auckland Pride audiences told Annan it was some of the safest interactive theatre they’d seen.

Before We Begin sees Annan telling his story on his own terms, but it’s also bigger than just him. He knows many others have experienced similar violations without getting the justice or resolution they deserve, and while the incident remains difficult to talk about, Annan says the tricky conversations that Before We Begin raises are vital. Many people think they’re better at consent than they actually are, he reckons, especially in queer communities. “We’ve had to do a lot of thinking about our own identity and boundaries, so there is a bit of an assumption that these things don’t happen – and yet they do.” 

The show will have its Australian premiere at Adelaide Fringe next month. Despite the challenges of being so vulnerable on stage, Annan has no regrets about sharing his experience. “It feels right and it feels necessary. The temptation to let shame and silence rule that story and keep it in and not share it is really strong,” he says. “But I think if I’m asking the audience to be courageous, there’s an invitation for me to also be courageous.”

There’s a myth that New Zealanders don’t enjoy interactive theatre, but Annan hopes Before We Begin will prove that wrong. So far, audiences have been both intrigued and excited by the opportunity to traverse the conversations raised in the show, and Annan is proud to create a positive space safe enough for this to happen. “I don’t think I necessarily got systematic justice, but I think I got something better,” he says. “I get to make this and shape the story, as a lesson and something to do better from.

“That’s quite special, that I have made something that seems to resonate with so many people.” 

Before We Begin is at Basement Theatre in Auckland from March 5-8.