On the Grind begins with sixteenth-century nun, Benedetta Carlini, famous for her promiscuous encounters with women, Jesus, and demonic possession. After rumours of naughty behaviour with another sister, Benedetta is stripped of her religious rank and threatened with a barbeque session at the stake. Things take a turn for the bizarre when she ends up isolated in a chamber. With her hopes dwindling faster than you can say “divine intervention”, another vivid vision becomes a reality as she rots alone in an underground cell below the Abbey. What she thought was the light of God turns out to be a downright terrifying threat. Benedetta finds herself transported into a foreign world, where she meets five lost souls burdened by queer stereotypes of the modern day. In the “Grindr-verse”, the five souls are adapted caricatures, taking inspiration from sixteenth-century Italian theatre, Commedia Dell’Arte. Unlike the traditional Commedia characters, which are based on social status, each character in this story is based on physical appearance. It’s like a funhouse mirror reflecting the warped perceptions of queer identities. While Benedetta is exposed to the lived experiences of these characters, the weight of society’s expectations never seems to vanish, regardless of the passage of time. As she faithfully follows her urge to assist those tormented by their inner turmoil, will she be the Mary Poppins of troubled souls or doomed to suffer alongside them for eternity?

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