When Larry Kramer first staged his furious play, The Normal Heart, in 1985 at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York, it was an uncompromising demand for action. It is now revered as a seminal piece of activist theater. As queer communities in many parts of the world face a rollback of rights... Continue Reading →
Royally f***ed – Theatre Review: Prince F*ggot (Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway) ★★★★★
In "an act of queer prognostication", playwright Jordan Tannahill's majestic new work Prince Faggot conjures a near future (2030s-40s) where a member of the British Royal Family—Prince George—not only publicly comes out, but gets married to a man. It is a premise inspired by the viral "gay icon" photograph of a four-year-old George back in... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: Jacky (Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio) ★★★★
Jacky (Guy Simon) is two things. The poster child of a hardworking, well-educated "blackfella" in the big city, and also a successful sex worker who knows that his skin colour is part of his package. In both realms of life, his Aboriginality can be a strength and a hindrance, but how much of himself is... Continue Reading →
Loaded (Beckett Theatre, Melbourne) ★★★★★
Danny Ball is alive as Ari, the drug-fueled, hungry protagonist of Loaded, an adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ novel of youthful queer excess in Melbourne, Australia. Updated to the 2020s by Tsiolkas and Dan Giovannoni, this one-man show is a fierce dive into the brain and body of a second-generation Greek-Australian defying the world around him.... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: The Village! A Disco Daydream (Dixon Place, New York) ★★★★
Update: The Village! A Disco Daydream runs in repertory with Nora Burns’s David’s Friend at New York's SoHo Playhouse July 10th - August 9th, 2024. Ever dodged a legion of hurtling luxury baby strollers on Bleecker Street, only to run into a gaggle of tourists taking selfies outside Carrie's stoop on Perry, and dreamed of... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: “it’s sexy, ludicrous & it’ll make you think” – Lewis Treston on his Austen-inspired comedy Hubris & Humiliation at Sydney Theatre Company
In a crowded WorldPride 2023 cultural calendar, one of the hottest tickets in town is the world premiere of Hubris and Humiliation by Lewis Treston at Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf Theatre, previewing from January 20th. A gay rom-com inspired by the work of Jane Austen, the play sees young Elliot being sent from Brisbaine to... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: Tylwyth (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff) ★★★★
Tylwyth revisits the group of characters first seen ten years ago in Sherman Associate Artist Daf James’ award-winning Llwyth. A theatrical sequel, yes, but one where if you’re new to the characters, you won’t feel lost. If you are familiar with the previous play though, you’ll be rewarded with plenty of enjoyable nuggets and references.... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: Cock (Ambassadors Theatre, London) ★★★★
Mike Bartlett’s Cock, last seen in London in 2011, is not just a source of endless childish sniggers in the West End—though we are grateful for that—it is an innovative revisiting of an important queer play, directed by Marianne Elliott. Barlett was inspired by cock fighting in Mexico, mashed up with questions about sexuality and... Continue Reading →
Sydney Mardi Gras 2021: Truth to Power Café creator Jeremy Goldstein meets Beautiful Thing writer Jonathan Harvey
Jeremy Goldstein’s Truth to Power Café and a new production of Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing straddle this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. For The Queer Review, Goldstein speaks with Harvey about his now classic play and what it means to him to see it revived. Jonathan Harvey is among our greatest living... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: Circle Jerk ★★★★
Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley's frequently hilarious high camp queer absurdist dark comedy Circle Jerk is very 2020. It's confronting, chaotic, unrelenting, far-fetched, deranged, and overstimulating. The theatrical equivalent of spending 100 minutes or so multi-screen doom scrolling yourself down a wormhole of alt right conspiracy theory threads punctuated with viral TikTok lip sync videos... Continue Reading →
