Thursday, 26th February 2026, my short film Reverie premieres at Palms on Oxford as part of the Mardi Gras celebrations. It tells the story of Gregory, a newly divorced man in his 60s who has finally come out after decades of forcing himself into a marriage because, as a young gay man growing up in the 1970s, survival meant silence.
" Featuring a powerful and final screen performance from Brent Thorpe alongside Patrick Phillips, Reverie is an intimate, moving drama written and directed by Eric C. Nash that honours truth, connection and the legacy we leave behind."
What begins as a one-night encounter with a younger man becomes something far more intimate and unexpected. Reverie isn’t a story about sex. It’s a story about listening. About what happens when two generations of queer men sit still long enough to truly see one another.
The seed of the film came from a moment I witnessed at Mardi Gras. Two young men were struggling to pay for their drinks. Their card wouldn’t work. A sharply dressed older gentleman leaned over, covered the bill and said, “Happy Mardi Gras, boys.” They assumed he was hitting on them. He wasn’t. He was just being kind.
That small interaction stayed with me. Our community faces constant challenges from the outside world, but sometimes we’re just as quick to judge one another within it. I started wondering: what would happen if we actually listened? If the younger generation understood what survival once required, and the older generation understood the freedom that the younger one is fighting to protect?
That question became Gregory.
— From the very beginning, there was only one actor I ever saw in the role: Brent Thorpe. —
Brent was widely known and deeply loved for his stage work, stand-up, drag, and theatrical work. He owned every stage he stepped on. But I always saw something more. I saw a leading man for the screen. He didn’t believe me at first.
Brent and I had been friends for years. I had been lucky enough to direct and produce him in other projects, but beyond the professional relationship, he was my friend.
REVERIE A film by Eric Nash, Starring Brent Thorpe & Patrick Phillips.
When I started in this industry at 18, the world looked very different. The internet was barely forming. Representation was scarce. I loved performers like Julian Clary on Sticky Moments. I loved Rocky Horror. But I never expressed that side of myself publicly.
Even though I was openly gay, I toned myself down. I butched myself up for the industry. I made myself palatable. I thought I was fine. I thought I was being strong. I told myself I was fighting for the community while quietly suppressing parts of myself that felt too flamboyant, too loud, too much.
Then I saw Brent’s stage show, DADDY, boy, didn’t that light a spark in me.
That show cracked something open in me.
Watching him command a room with such unapologetic presence forced me to confront the shame I didn’t even realise I was still carrying. Years of pushing down parts of myself because I believed they wouldn’t be accepted in this industry. Brent stood there, fearless, playful, powerful, and completely himself.
He gave me permission to do the same.
That is one of the reasons we trusted each other so deeply in the creative space. There was no armour between us. When Brent stepped into rehearsals with his co-star Patrick Phillips, something extraordinary happened. They listened to one another. They trusted one another. And in that trust, magic was created.
There is a monologue in Reverie that I will never forget. One camera. No edits. Just Brent.
He delivered it in a single take. It was restrained, heartbreaking and utterly real. When we called cut, there was silence. The kind of silence that only happens when everyone knows they’ve just witnessed something rare. My producer said to me “Should we do one more for safety”? I replied “Why”!
Brent Thorpe has since passed away. Reverie was the first film we did together and it wasn’t our last.
The loss has been felt deeply across our community. But I will never say goodbye to him.
Brent is in everything. He’s in the music. In the art. In the fashion. In the writing. In every spotlight that dares to shine boldly and unapologetically.
Reverie is a small film with a big heart. It is a story about generational understanding, about shedding shame, about finding truth later in life. It is also an opportunity to witness Brent Thorpe exactly where he belongs… on screen, centred, powerful and unforgettable.
