Saturday, August 11, 2007

Token Gay Play

"Morning, sugar!" smirked Jesus in an LA drawl. Christ was wearing only a pair of tight jeans, and was rather lounging on the cross in a way that showed off his six pack. But that's the fringe this year - get your top off and you'll get the gays.

You see, it ain't the fringe unless you go and see a token gay play. They're invariably mediocre, but packed - cos all the marys turn up dutifully to anything with a hunk on the flyer.

This is open to abuse - I was most tempted by a flyer which showed four naked studs up against a wall. "It's called Borstal Boy!" I glowed, excited by the prospect of bad boy japery in naughty school.

"Borstal Boy?" my friend Helen narrowed her eyes. "But that's Brendan Behan's play about his agonised youth and the IRA." And thus, not much bumming.

This year's must-see gay play is called Butch, and is the story of a pocket gay who wants to be a muscle mary. It's almost charming, but it misjudged the audience's sympathy badly. We've got a certain amount of time for a muscly man walking around with his top off, but not if he's constantly whining, "Oh, I'm so scrawny... I wish I could put on weight... Why am I so thin?"

6 comments:

Caliope said...

I think your friend might have been mistaken. From your description of the flier it's clear that 'Borstal Boy' is the stage version of Eurocreme's hard hitting documentary about the lives of contemporary young men.

http://www.eurocreme.com/movie/borstalboy

Skip said...

Ah Eurocreme and their "-boy" series. While I've never seen any (Although apparently SpyBoy has its moments), I wonder how long it is before they do ToyBoy - about a lonely gay who has fantasies about his lego. Or is that just me?

Caliope said...

All the 'Boys' have their moments: how could they not, jam-packed full as they are of frisky 20-somethings ? I believe 'SpyBoy' was such a lavish production it almost bankrupted the company. As for 'Toy Boy', for your dedicated porneaste 'Toy' means only one thing and you wouldn't want one made of Lego !

Skip said...

Ah, really? Then I stand corrected. Or perhaps I should sit corrected, but slightly awkwardly and with a lopsided grin?

Anonymous said...

It can't have been any worse on the token gay fringe event that Poof Loose. Yawn!

Skip said...

Ah, Poof Loose. Now, I didn't go and see that, but mostly because it was just "A pretty gay man playing show tunes on his piano". Why would I pay money for that?

However, if you add the words "is shagged while" you get an unmissable show!