Underwear Models and Eunuchs

For some reason, the New Year kicks off with a selection of gay themed plays. I am not naive enough to think that this is for any other reason than the fringe theatres are at a premium then - another premium time is August, when the rest of the acting world heads to Edinburgh for their culture. To my suprise the two plays I reviewed this month have been extremely good and have engendered in me, various different reactions. Studies For A Portrait at the White Bear look like it was going to be dreadful - the Press Release was a frenzy of superlatives and self importance. I took Sean along to break him in gently to:-

a) Fringe Theatres - particularly the awful service notorious at the White Bear
b) Seeing a play to the end because I have to and not because I want to

After the alteration to Blowing Whistles that now features gratuitous male nudity it came as no surprise that Studies For A Portrait featured the ubiquitous cock scene. Don't get me wrong - I love a naked body - but there was no need for it here, no matter how gorgeous the actor was. The fact is Studies - a play about vile personalities and ghastly behaviour - would work just as well without it.

Studies was difficult for me, not because of the nudity but because of the subject matter. When it boils down to it I guess I am an awful moralist and get annoyed when morally void people get what they want rather than what they deserve. Silly really. Sean couldn't quite understand my annoyance but I will say, it takes bloody good writing to stir me in such a way. And just to prove that I am not an old fart - here's a picture of Stephen Hagan who got naked in this play and also, as pictured here in the play The Giant. I am beginning to believe it may be written into his contract!

The other play is called The Choir. On a frosty night in Victoria I met up with Howard for the first time in 2009. The Choir featured absolutely no nudity but there again, it couldn't as the cast is supposed to have been castrated. A bit of a nightmare play this one and worth a ticket, should you find yourself in Victoria late one night. The Stag is a new venue for plays above an old venue for hook-ups. They need to sort out their bar staff a little - too too slow for words - but other than that it's a venue that offers lots of possibilities.