“I couldn’t have possibly imagined this in my wildest dreams when I wrote the book, when I was this age,” Molloy said.

“For a kid from regional Queensland to be sitting in a room with these creative geniuses and such a talented cast, I pinch myself every day. I just love it. I love the theatre, and I have always loved it, but to be on the other side of the process has been fascinating.”

The journalist and now author is watching the transformation of his best-selling coming of age memoir Fourteen, about his experiences growing up gay in central Queensland. It will feature in the Brisbane Festival as a theatrical production on the Cremorne Theatre stage from the esteemed shake & stir theatre company.

Fourteen is an uplifting and heart-wrenching account of Molloy’s experience at an all-boys rugby-mad Catholic school in regional Queensland; the bullying, torment and betrayal as well as the moments of resilience, love and hilarity that punctuated his 14th year.

Molloy is immensely grateful for the collaborative approach taken by shake and stir in what is their latest in a string of page to stage productions including Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol and Animal Farm. Co-Artistic Directors Nelle Lee and Nick Skubij worked closely with him to reimagine his novel for the stage with Skubij directing the production.

“It’s important that society looks at itself, and confronts the uncomfortable parts of our past. It’s not that long ago in the scheme of things,” he said.

“It was at a very strange time, it was only a couple of years after Tasmania became the last state, very reluctantly, to decriminalise homosexuality. It was in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis. It was around the time when gay men were still being lured by gangs and murdered in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. That’s in my memory.

“So it’s not ancient history just yet. And I think it’s important that we confront these things so that we don’t forget, and that they don’t happen again.”

The production marks a homecoming for star of the show Brisbane-raised actor Conor Leach (Sequin in a Blue Room, MTC’s SLAP. BANG. KISS.) who plays Molloy in the autobiographical work.

Leach said he’s found some of the scenes from Molloy’s life incredibly confronting to re-enact.

“It’s a tremendous honour as an actor, it’s such a joy of a character to portray. I’m constantly in awe of how he made his way out of such a traumatic, oppressive circumstances,” he said.

“I went to an all boys school for a period of time and there were certainly things that I read in the book and I saw on the page that I was like `Oh yeah, wow I’ve vividly seen that before.’

“And that’s something that I suppose everybody can relate to is that acceptance of self at the core of that story as well. When a society is telling you to be something completely other than what you are, finding your way out of that is completely something that resonates with all of us.”

Brisbane-raised actor Conor Leach portrays author Shannon Molloy in Fourteen. (image: Supplied)

Leach said he’s enjoyed working with Molloy and the shake and stir team on how to bring the story’s wider themes authentically to the audience.

“I think it reflects Queensland’s identity, it’s going to make people think about how far we’ve come and how much further we have to go. I’m super excited to be telling a really topical story in Queensland,” Leach said.

“Honestly my greatest resource has been the book. It’s really a gift from Shannon to be honest, it’s like the greatest resource an actor could have.”

Working with the young actor has renewed Molloy’s fervour for getting the message from his book out as widely as possible, and he hope this stage production opens up his story to a whole new audience.

“Just spending time with Conor, he’s, I guess, Gen Z – I feel 1000 years old when we talk about pop culture, and TikTok and all the rest of it,” Molloy said,

“But it’s encouraging in some ways, that when I talk about my experiences, there’s this horror, because it’s hard for a young person to imagine that that could ever occur.

“Things have changed so much. And things that I never thought that I’d see in my lifetime, like marriage equality, are now a firmly entrenched part of our society, which is great.

“I think what’s important for me, though, and why I want this story to be told, is that while things have changed, there’s still some way to go.

“Particularly in regional areas, like the one I grew up in, where I know from speaking at schools, or youth groups, when promoting the book, there’s still kids who experience similar, if not worse things than what I experienced.”

He said shake & stir’s guiding hand ensured the play was not relentlessly bleak, with a nod to music of the time providing some much needed relief through nostalgic mixtape of 90s bangers from Shania Twain to The Spice Girls.

“It’s got such a distinct feel, and it’s very nostalgic as well – that beautiful late ’90s period, there’s nothing like it,” he said.

“Depending on your age, and your taste in music, you’ll either love it, or hate it, or love to hate it.

“That era of pop is the cheesy, bubblegum, happy pop, and that’s what I’d listen to after a horrible day, or when I was in the midst of some sort of despair. I’d put on these really happy songs, like S Club 7, and Britney Spears, and it would be a brief escape.

“So they’re littered throughout the play. And some are better than others, but they all bring a certain positivity to things. A bit of light in the dark.”

shake & stir Artistic Director Ross Balbuziente said Fourteen struck a delicate balance between trauma and tribulation and the humour and heart that ultimately triumphed.

“We owe it to Shannon – and anybody else whose experiences mirror his – not to shy away from the more triggering moments and challenging themes but we also want to show the absolute power friendship and family can have on a 14-year-old,” Balbuziente said.