Tag: Gay Plays
The latest reviews and news about gay plays in London and around the UK.
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THEATRE REVIEW | McQueen
★★★ | McQueen
Fashion Designer Alexander McQueen committed suicide in February, 2010 at the age of 39. But his work and memory lives on, including in a new play simply called McQueen.
Stephen Wight plays (and looks just like) McQueen, who was one of the most celebrated UK fashion designers of our time. McQueen, though very successful, had a troubled life; drugs, depression, the suicide of his friend and muse Isabella Blow, who practically helped McQueen become the success that he was, and the death of his mother are some of the factors that probably led him to take his own life in his Central London flat on Feb. 11, 2010.
McQueen is written not as a play about his life but more about the journey McQueen took to build his career. The journey is brought on by fictional character Dahlia (Dianna Agron) – the idea taken from McQueen’s 2008 collection ‘The Girl Who Lived in the Tree.’ She’s basically a stalker who breaks into McQueen’s flat. He’s startled at first, but her childlike personality and beautiful looks and curvy body appeal to McQueen in a visual sense.
So McQueen and Dahlia travel through a few important milestones in McQueen’s life; the tailor shop where McQueen got his start and where, on the spot, he makes a dress for Dahlia. They go to his mother’s home, where she is upstairs in bed, sick. And McQueen gets to be reunited with the ghost that is Blow (a smashing Tracy-Ann Oberman), the woman who bought up all of McQueen’s first collection but who still wants to know why he didn’t take her with him to the top, and why did he leave her behind when it was she who made him what he was. In between these pit stops we are visually treated to very slow moving dancers who change the set and morph with, through and in between each other. Visually it’s stunning, you don’t realise the set is changing because the movements are so mesmerising. But this doesn’t make up for the fact that McQueen the play is a bit too thin and doesn’t provide the theatregoer with a true celebration and story of McQueen’s life.
Wight is amazing as McQueen. In fact, he looks exactly like McQueen did in his later years. Wight captures all of his mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, including the scene where he instantaneously creates a dress for Dahlia. It’s an excellent performance. Agron as Dahlia is given lots of soliloquy dialogue to recite – is she talking to McQueen, the audience, or to herself? And yes, she does recite, likes she’s reading from a teleprompter. Hers is not a great performance as she’s with the amazing Wright during the whole show. But Oberman practically steals the show from Wright in her all-too-brief turn as Bow. It’s a showstopping performance, with Oberman dressed in a sexy negligee. Playwright James Phillips and Director John Caird have produced a play that is weak in biography but beautiful in its presentation, but we’re still left wanting to know more about McQueen and his life and his fashions. We will have to do with the V&A Museum’s Savage Beauty exhibition as well as the highly-acclaimed book about McQueen; Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin, by Andrew Wilson, as well as Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, by Dana Thomas.
McQueen is playing at the St. James Theatre until June 27th:
http://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk/theatre/mcqueen
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THEATRE REVIEW | Rise Like A Phoenix
★★ | Rise Like A Phoenix
Things have changed a great deal since the days of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, Kevin Elyot’s My Night with Reg and Tony Kushner’s brilliant Angels in America. HIV is something we can talk about more openly, people don’t die anymore, and, with treatment, can live a pretty normal life, though there is still a lot of stigma attached to it.
Paul Emelion Daly’s new play, Rise Like a Phoenix, is billed as a comedy, but, apart from some admittedly hilarious one-liners, it actually takes itself rather seriously, maybe too seriously. As an HIV negative man, maybe I found it hard to identify with the five gay men, all of them HIV-positive, in Daly’s play, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of my HIV positive friends would have a problem too. Too many of the characters were fixated on the blame game, how they acquired the virus, who gave them the virus, and indeed, not giving too much away, much of the story revolved around a love triangle, in which one of the characters had unknowingly given it to one of the men, who then unknowingly gave it to another.
I was hoping that a new play about HIV would take a more positive stance, but it seemed to me, that, for all the talk of the success of antiretroviral therapy, emotionally the play was still stuck in the 90s, with its reminders of those tombstone adverts. But the whole landscape has changed since then and we live in a far more positive world (in both senses of the word) than we did? Why was there no talk of TasP (Treatment as Prevention), of PEP or PrEP, the once a day pill that stops you getting HIV?
I’m afraid I found it all rather dispiriting and negative.
Performances were good, but Tim McArthur’s usually faultless sense of pace seemed to have deserted him this time round and the play dragged for too much of the time.
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THEATRE REVIEW | Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage – National Tour
★★★★ | Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage – National Tour
Gareth Thomas is one of the most successful rugby players ever to take to the field for his country. But in the testosterone filled world of professional rugby, he hides the fact that he is gay, causing him to engage in a secret double life and bringing him to the brink of suicide. But equally, his hometown of Bridgend in Wales is also a place of sadness, as a spate of teen suicides blight the small, close-knit community. Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage tells the story of both Gareth Thomas and his struggle with his sexuality and the story of two teenage girls from Bridgend, each battling with their own issues.
Set on a stage resembling a locker room, and utilising only the simplest of props and costumes, each of the six-strong cast played multiple characters and morphed seamlessly from one to another, including each taking turns to play Thomas himself, as they recounted the two intertwined stories. Told in a verbatim style with the script primarily delivered in a direct address to the audience, the writing of Robin Soans had a very natural feel as it was conveyed by the cast, leading to characters who were accessible, felt familiar and who were instantly likeable. From the cast, Rhys ap William and Daniel Hawksford stood out the most, with both delivering solid performances in their various roles. Taking the audience through a number of ‘crisis points’ in both stories, there were a couple of points during the play where I felt myself welling up; but interestingly enough, it was a real shame that the moment when Thomas comes out to his parents was not handled particularly well by Katie-Elin Salt, leaving such a pivotal scene feeling flat and slightly awkward despite the best endeavours of the other cast members.
The play draws parallels between the personal struggles of Thomas and the young people of Bridgend, demonstrating that even those considered heroes have their personal demons; and showing young people that they are not as isolated or alone as they may think. Dealing with a number of sensitive topics, the play handles them well, and draws a genuine emotional reaction from the audience as well as providing food for thought on many levels, whether that be empathising with the characters or their families on stage or reflecting on their own experiences and emotions.
Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage is thought provoking and emotional, with an undeniably strong message of hope and positivity.
Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage was reviewed at West Yorkshire Playhouse (www.wyp.org.uk ) and is continuing on its national tour, details of which can be found at http://www.outofjoint.co.uk/production/crouch-touch-pause-engage. You can also read our interview with Gareth Thomas about the production.
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THEATRE REVIEW | Gods and Monsters, Southwark Playhouse
★★★★★ | Gods and Monsters, Southwark Playhouse
It’s the late 1950s and ageing Hollywood director, James Whale, best known for his iconic Frankenstein films, is languishing in his Los Angeles house.
Whale is incapacitated by a series of strokes that have left him frail and prone to crippling headaches, dark moods and memory lapses. In spite of his infirmity, he hasn’t lost any of his impish ways with young men, persuading them to swim in his pool or pose naked for portraits. Old habits die hard. Unashamedly gay in an era of repression, Whale is a singular and striking personality. Enter pneumatically muscular new gardener, Clayton Boone who becomes the object of Whale’s lust and an unlikely player in the final drama of his life.
Whale’s life is told in a series of flashbacks that happen alongside the on-going drama; portraying the story of his childhood in a working-class family in Dudley through his horrific World War One experiences to his Hollywood career.
The play is based on the 1995 novel Father of Frankenstein written by Christopher Bram. The the same source material was used for the 1998 Oscar-winning film, “Gods And Monsters”, starring Ian McKellen, Lynn Redgrave and Brendan Fraser. The story works as well as a stage play also.
In terms of script, performance and production values this is a triumphant piece of theatre. Seasoned actor, Ian Gelder is magnificent as Whale. His performance hits a fine balance between comedy and tragedy and is subtly nuanced. The script is tight and in spite of the intensity of the subject matter the play never drags and is filled with finely written comedic moments. Excessively muscled newcomer Will Austin takes on the role of Boone with a surprisingly fine performance. He manages to portray a man with unexpected depths with gentle empathy and sensitivity.
The intimate space of Southwark Playhouse and the cunning lighting, sound and set design add extra dimensions to the performance also. I must also mention that the play contains male nudity (if the fine acting and script doesn’t grab your attention then three different male nudes might).
This really is a stand out production in London theatre and a must see.
Buy tickets here: http://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/the-large/gods-and-monsters/
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THEATRE REVIEW | Between, Kings Head Theatre
★★★ | Between, Kings Head Theatre
Like the majority of plays featuring gay men – this one too has nudity… SURPRISED?
BETWEEN opened recently at the King Head Theatre Pub and can be seen as a 55-minute monologue adapted to fit the six characters that are played by two male actors. Loosely directed however vividly acted BETWEEN invites us to experience snippets from the portrayed lives of two childhood friends (exploring sexual activity), a couple in a relationship (suffering from sexual dysfunction) and an actor and tutor (where the actor falls for his tutor).
The three stories are relevant to each other and it’s not that difficult to figure out the outcomes, especially when it feels as though some of the stories have not been fleshed out or evenly concentrated on.
This short play has a few twinkling moments that these committed actors shine in nicely and I fear that these moments are not being received with the attention it deserves (as I look around the space and see the first three rows of men beaming at the boy’s semi-naked bodies).
Constant transformations into the different characters demand the actors to change and take their shirts on and off and not tautly done this can be quite distracting; however, it has to be done as the director chose this manoeuvre. To make this play more gripping and to compliment the small performance space perhaps the capable actors should have been allowed to show an emotional change in each character rather than displayed through a physical item (t-shirt).
May not be off the hook funny, emotional, surprising or unique but intelligence made an appearance when the impressive sonnets did – definitely a highlight and something to look out for.
I had to go and see BETWEEN after reading the rave reviews and feel this play has so much going for it that you never stop hoping that it will get better.BETWEEN
Directed by: Geoffrey Hyland
Performed by: Nicholas Campbell and Oskar Brown
Kings Head Theatre
until 14th March 2015
http://www.kingsheadtheatre.com -
THEATRE REVIEW | The Boys Upstairs
★★★★ | The Boys Upstairs
For their first play of 2015, Above the Stag have turned to another American comedy, The Boys Upstairs. Dubbed a cross between Sex and the City and The Boys in the Band, Jason Mitchell’s play first premiered in the 2009 New York Fringe Festival, where it played a completely sold-out run at the Soho Playhouse. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it achieves a similar feat at Above The Stag in Vauxhall.
Brilliantly witty and funny, the play details the lives of three young chums, their disastrous love affairs, their arguments, and their quest to find out if the hunky new guy downstairs “is” or “isn’t.”
Director Andrew Beckett’s pacing never falters in this fast and furious comedy, aided by a cast of talented young actors. Simon Weston maintained from start to finish a brilliantly dry delivery as the geeky, wise-cracking Josh who suffers from OCD, whilst Stanley Eldridge as his former boyfriend and untidy flatmate, was equally funny but also touchingly real as Seth. Joe Leather turned in a hilarious performance as the endlessly promiscuous Ashley, waking up every morning with a different lover, after getting drunk yet again, and Daniel Garcia was perfectly cast as the slightly gauche but stunningly handsome Eric. Last but not least there was the multi-talented Hugh O’Donnell who has a high old time playing all the various boyfriends that come in and out of their lives. Every one of his characterisations was spot on, but his turn as the musical theatre queen (one of Ash’s one-night stands) is an absolutely side-splitting tour de force, which quite rightly brings the house down.
One should also mention Zoe Hurwitz’s excellent set design, one of the best I’ve seen at Above The Stag.
If you’re suffering from those post-holiday January/February blues and feel you could do with a lift, you could do much worse than getting yourself down to Above The Stag for this crazy comedy, which is guaranteed to lift your spirits and get you laughing.
The Boys Upstairs plays at Above The Stag in Vauxhall until February 2015
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THEATRE REVIEW | Treasure Island, the Curse of the Pearl Necklace, Above The Stag
Well it’s almost Christmas and the silly season has started, and what better way to spend a couple of silly hours than at the Above the Stag theatre in Vauxhall at their yearly pantomime Treasure Island and the Curse of the Pearl Necklace?
Though this is the first of their pantos I have seen, over the six years since their first one in their old home in Victoria, they have played to sell-out audiences each year and it’s easy to see why. Definitely not the show for the family outing with mum, dad, grandma and the little ones, this is the show you creep out to enjoy with your mates.
I’ll have to confess pantomime is not really my thing. I usually go out of my way to avoid it, but maybe if they were more like this one I’d go more often. The script by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hopper abounds in witty one-liners that come so fast and furious it’s almost impossible to keep up. They have retained most of the pantomime traditions that we have grown up with, and the audience catches on quickly, shouting out “behind you”, “oh yes you are” and joining in the community singing with gusto.
Another of the panto traditions they have retained is the character of the dame, here in the guise of Jim Hawkins’s mother, Sally and Philip Lawrence gives quite the stand-out performance of the night. Whether it be delivering the naughty dialogue, joking with the audience or delivering the odd ad lib, he is the master (mistress?) of every situation, and frequently had us all in fits of laughter. Hugh O’Donnel as Ethel, the Merman (get it?), who acted as our narrator and guide, was equally hilarious, delivering all his lines with his tongue firmly lodged in one cheek. In a fairly large cast, though, absolutely no one let the side down.
In the past I have been known to criticise Andrew Beckett’s direction (in The Gay Naked Play and You Should Be So Lucky) but here he is obviously in his element. My problem in the other plays was that too much of the action was played out front, encouraging the cast to mug too much to the audience, but that is exactly what is required of pantomime, and here it works splendidly. Aside from a section at the beginning of the second act, which flags slightly, the swift-moving action holds one’s attention throughout and moves seamlessly from one scene to another.
One should also mention the superb set by David Shields and Daniel Johnson’s excellent musical direction.
If, like me, you can be a bit allergic to the usual Christmas fare, then this irreverent, naughty, adult orientated gay romp is definitely for you.
Treasure Island and the Curse of the Pearl Necklace plays until January 10 at Above the Stag and I’d advise you to book early, as it will no doubt sell out completely.
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THEATRE REVIEW | Next Fall
★★★★ | Next Fall
Imagine meeting a younger man, falling in love and then finding out that he has a very different ideology from yours. How would you cope if you found out that he was a fundamentalist Christian who believes that homosexuality is a flaw, the Bible is a literal document and is waiting for a rapture to occur so that he can be drawn up to heaven?
Adam and Luke have managed to make their relationship work in spite of their differences. Adam is a failed writer from New York and a neurotic atheist with hypochondria issues. Luke is from Florida and is an aspiring actor with strong religious views and a tendency to pray to thank God for food and again after sex to ask for forgiveness. Luke has kept his sexuality secret from his parents, always planning to tell them next autumn but things come to a head when Luke is hit by a car and is lying in hospital in a coma and his long separated parents arrive from Florida along with a closeted male friend and his best female friend.
This multi award winning play by Geoffrey Nauffts is so much more than an issue centred play but works on varying levels: as a tender exploration of human frailty and diversity, a moving drama and also a really witty comedy with laugh out loud moments. Charlie Condou (Coronation Street) and Martin Delaney portray the couple at the centre of the play with skill but the real stars of the play are the supporting cast. Nancy Crane is exceptional as Luke’s flaky mother with drug issues and her comic timing is absolutely impeccable. She delivers killer line after killer line without batting an eyelash. Sirine Saba and Mitchell Mullen are equally brilliant in their portrayal as Adam’s New Age best friend and Luke’s bullish father, struggling to cope with his suspicions about his son’s sexuality.
The set is versatile, making use of the intimate space in play at Southwark portray hospital waiting rooms, apartments and even a street scene. The theatre is a perfect space for a play of this intensity and warm humour.
This is a play that is really worth catching. It’s definitely worth a trip to Southwark for a rare opportunity to see a play that has the potential to make you cry with both laughter and sorrow.
Next Fall runs until the 25th of October 2014
Buy tickets here: www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
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THEATRE REVIEW: You Should Be So Lucky, Above The Stag
★★★ | You Should Be So Lucky, Above The Stag
For their opening play of the new season, Above The Stag have chosen a madcap comedy from the pen of Charles Busch, a New York writer and drag artist, who also played the male lead in the original New York production of the play.
A modern day Cinderella story, the play concerns Chris, a shy and slightly eccentric electrologist who accidentally electrocutes and kills his customer, the elderly Mr Rosenberg, unexpectedly inheriting Rosenberg’s millions. This sets off a chain of crazy events, including appearing on a TV reality chat show, under the guidance of his fairy godfather Mr Rosenberg, who returns as a ghost to take care of his surrogate son, and make sure his wishes are carried out in the face of his vengeful daughter disputing the will.
Apart from one brief scene in the TV studio, the entire action takes place in the one room of Chris’s Greenwich Village apartment, a very clever and elaborate set by David Shields. Busch is a seasoned writer, his writing reminiscent of 1930s screwball comedies, and the laughs come thick and fast.
I had my reservations, though and these were much the same as those I had with last year’s Gay Naked Play, also directed by Andrew Beckett. Too much of it was played on one frenetic level, with a surfeit of mugging to the audience, and an energy level far in excess of what was needed in this small house. Chris Woodley’s Christopher started well, and in his first couple of scenes with Colin Appleby’s warmly gentle Mr Rosenberg, created a touching portrait of a slightly lost young man, but as events got more and more out of control, so too did his performance. Stacy Sobieski was on firmer ground as Christopher’s completely over the top drama queen sister, Polly, as was Ellen Vernieks as Rosenberg’s daughter, Lenore, but they too would benefit from reining things in occasionally, as could Lucas Livesy’s Walter.
The role of the TV host Wanda Wang is being shared by several actors. On the night I attended we had a nicely nuanced performance from Ishani Basu.
Maybe the pacing will settle down a bit as the play gets further into its run. An entertaining evening none the less.
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THEATRE REVIEW | Ballad of the Burning Star – National Tour
★★★ | Ballad of the Burning Star – National Tour
Glamorous drag queen, Star, invites you to join her on a cabaret filled journey into the heart of the Middle East. Armed with a pair of killer heels, a deadly troupe of dancers and a handful of stories from both sides of the conflict, you are taken on a journey like no other to examine the individuals, families and communities who find themselves in the Ballad of the Burning Star is undeniably a bold piece of theatre. Credit is due to anyone who attempts to explain the complexities of the Middle East conflict via the medium of Cabaret, using a drag queen, a Star of David mirror ball, a musician called “Camp David” and a troupe of military dressed Diva’s. It was also undeniably confrontational, never shying away from its explosive, in your face style and being uncompromising in its portrayal of both sides of the conflict. It is equally bold in its physical, stripped back presentation – it is a show which stands on its own two feet, without the need for a set, props or a multitude of elaborate costumes.
There were a number of very good ideas contained within the piece and as you peel back the layers, you begin to realise what an incredibly smart piece of writing this is. The way in which Star vacillates between caring host and dictator-like dominator of the Starlets, the way in which taboos are openly challenged, and the almost military precision drills of the dance routines are all reflective of the subject matter of the piece, and make the point with a sarcastic overtone and dark undertone. There is also the way in which the story comes full circle, how the events culminate at the end and how the circular narrative of the piece mirrors why the ongoing conflict still rages.
But unfortunately, it the show never comes together in a way which allows it to reach the full potential of those good ideas. There were a number of aspects of the production which pulled it down – the almost identical troupe of Starletts playing different roles within the story led to poorly defined characters which were not always easy to identify during the narrative. The choreography became very repetitive very quickly and the majority of the presentation was reduced to nothing more than people shouting loudly, wailing or screeching at each other, which led to the loss of any actual dramatic impact. But as the closing lines of the show were delivered (in complete contrast to what had gone before and in a very powerful way) you realise what this show perhaps could have been with a little more restraint.
That said, whilst not being particularly impressed upon immediately leaving the theatre, this show has really stayed with me for the last few days and for some reason, I have not been able to stop thinking about it. The more I have thought about it, the more I have realised what a clever piece of theatre this really was. It is just a real shame that the constant shouting and screaming undermined the value of the subject matter and the presentation of what was actually a very powerful, thought provoking, inventive and intelligent piece of theatre.
Ballad of the Burning Star is now on national tour. Further information, details of the tour and booking details can be found at http://www.theatreadinfinitum.co.uk/productions/ballad-of-the-burning-star