I Love You, Bro

It was only a matter of time before a piece like this came about – a real-life cyber sex thriller about fabricated identities, burning passions for invisible strangers and the near fatal consequences of infatuation-fuelled exploits.

At the centre of it is a 14-year-old British boy Johnny – a self-confessed "genius" and "confident trickster" – with quite a story to prove it. His invisible co-protagonist and the subject of his growing adoration is Marky Mark – an exemplary student and sports prodigy – with a proneness to gullibility.

The most surprising thing, however, is that this particular show hails from Melbourne – which, in a way, is also a testament to just how far-reaching Johnny's genius really is.

Based on a feature from Vanity Fair, Adam JA Cass's script in Ash Flanders' rendition initially comes across as a mix between Berkoffian Cockney and poetic 'yoofspeak', interspersed with the internet chat-room punctuation.

As the story grows into a captivating web of deceit and despair, we become witness to a shattering account of loneliness which accompanies the sexual awakening of a homosexual young man into a homophobic environment.

Or, in a paraphrase of Johnny's own words – this is a story of a contemporary Juliet – every bit as tragic as the Shakespearean original.