20 January – 14 February

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This show belongs to the FRINGE WORLD Festival 2026 season. This season is now over.

A man stands barefoot on a small circular platform surrounded by scattered playing cards and papers. A vintage-style book titled How to Stay Married Without Exploding hangs in front of their legs. A low lamp and a stool stacked with books sit nearby.
Bare feet stand on a small round platform on fake grass, surrounded by scattered playing cards, a bitten apple core, and crumpled notes, including a sheet of paper labelled “To Francis.”
Bare feet balance on a small round platform set on fake grass, surrounded by scattered playing cards, crumpled papers, and a desk lamp behind them.
FRINGE WORLD Festival 2026

How to Stay Married Without Exploding!

What if your whole life was built on not moving an inch? Stranded on a WWII landmine, Francis Molloy built a life, family, and reality TV show without ever moving. Now, his 1950s studio set has landed in Perth for a darkly comic live taping. How to Stay Married Without Exploding! is a solo show about performativity, nostalgia, and what happens when the bubble that you’re living in bursts.

Part stand-up show, part live theatre, How to Stay Married Without Exploding! transports this year’s FRINGE WORLD audience into the live studio audience of Francis’ home (BYO sandbags). Sneak a glimpse into Francis Molloy’s grounded lifestyle, how he and his wife tiptoe around the more loaded parts of their relationship, and what things that make him tick, tick, tick...

 

Presented by: Matthew J. Young

Matthew J. Young is an American born theatre-maker with a passion for the arts that tracks back as far as he can remember. Having graduated the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) with both the Diploma of Acting and the Bachelor of Performing Arts (Performance Making). Matthew has had many great opportunities to diversify and hone his skillset including co-directing 2024’s Generator: Frontier and acting in multiple roles in Katzenmusik (Directed by Emily McLean, 2025). Matthew loves telling stories with simple ideas in ridiculous ways and wants audiences to lean into the blast zone.
Theatre & Performance • Interactive
Western Australia • World Premiere
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Suitability & warnings

Content rating: MA15+
Family friendly: No
Mental Health
Audience Participation: Occasional
Sexual References
Coarse Language: Occasional
Suicide/Self Harm
Loud Noises

Please note

Reference to World War II, depiction of an active landmine

Presenter

Presented by: Matthew J. Young

Matthew J. Young is an American born theatre-maker with a passion for the arts that tracks back as far as he can remember. Having graduated the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) with both the Diploma of Acting and the Bachelor of Performing Arts (Performance Making). Matthew has had many great opportunities to diversify and hone his skillset including co-directing 2024’s Generator: Frontier and acting in multiple roles in Katzenmusik (Directed by Emily McLean, 2025). Matthew loves telling stories with simple ideas in ridiculous ways and wants audiences to lean into the blast zone.

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