Xposed
Southwark Playhouse, 4th November 2018
Full Disclosure Theatre returned to the Southwark Playhouse this month for the latest in their ongoing occasional showcase nights of new LGBT writing, ‘Xposed’. As before we are presented with eight new plays by eight new writers supported by an equal number of directors and a company of sixteen actors, all combining their talents to present this latest collection of new stories by new voices. As is generally the nature of these evenings there are always likely to be some that stand out more than others, but the evening got off to a great start with Freya Jackson’s ‘The Gay Agenda’ in which three representatives from across the spectrum of our community get together to try and produce a definitive list of priorities for the future. There should have been four people, but with the T being a no-show, it’s left up to the L, G & B to proceed with the meeting. Whilst exactly who has brought them together remains unclear, we watch as they almost stumble at the first hurdle, that being to decide collectively if they are in fact representative of the ‘LGBT’ community or ‘queer’ community. For the most part this is a light hearted comic piece that see’s the welcome return of Russell Anthony (seen during the previous ‘Xposed’ showcase in George Smart’s excellent “We Have To Tell Jacob”) once again managing to grab the majority of laughs with his impressive comic timing.This first play also starred Manish Gandhi, who we last saw in Glenn Waldron’s five star play ‘Natives’, also at the Southwark Playhouse.
It’s a promising start, and one that continues with Annette Brooks two hander “How We Love”. This quickly becomes a very prescient piece of work given how it tell’s the tale of two Nigerians in London, Babs and Regi who are hatching a plan to fool the authorities back home about who they really are. Being an audience member watching their story unfold in the same week as it had been reported that the governor of Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda was threatening to crackdown on Tanzania’s LGBT community added a very real sense of foreboding, as the lights went down, about what was in store for these two characters beyond the play itself, presumably returning home to Nigeria where, like Tanzania, both male and female same sex sexual activity is also illegal, an increasingly troubling issue that was also recently explored quite movingly in Ken Urban’s ‘A Guide For The Homesick’, currently playing at The Trafalgar Studios. (https://bit.ly/2D7ka6u)
This starts what becomes a bit of a universal theme throughout the evening as we are reminded repeatedly how much, as individuals and as community, we still find ourselves either consciously or subconsciously having to hide our true selves. It’s certainly evident in Ron Burch’s ’Romeo and Jules’ where, obliged to woo Juliet, it transpires that Romeo, (Ben Carter James) has already had an anonymous liaison with Jules, brilliantly played with a large dose of acerbic Scouse wit by Jamie Foulkes. This inability to live an open and honest life also underpins the action in Rachel Harpers ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’, Stella Ajayi’s ‘Virtue’, David Hendon’s ’Skin(ny)' and, to a lesser extent the last play of the evening Jessica Revell's ’She’s Fit, Just Kiss Her’, which becomes more about discovery than deception. The net effect of having this theme resurfacing throughout the evening was that this collection of new work felt slightly less original and diverse than the previous collection of plays presented as part of ’Xposed’ back in February. This is a shame, although I wonder if it might be a little unfair to judge these plays as a collection rather than individually.
That being said, there were still those that stood out from the crowd, one of which was “Oh! You Pretty Things”, helped by the addition of two musicians on stage and a stand out performance from Emily McGlynn as Amy, whose nuanced portrayal of someone desperately trying to fain happiness, whilst actually on the edge of breaking down, impressively hit the mark. These concurrent emotions were derived from the fear that her close friend Ryan (Miles Walker) might again attempt suicide given the increasing difficulty he has in accepting himself for who he is. My highlight of the night however was the return of Dominic Jones, having also appeared in February’s ‘Xposed’, for a sensational solo performance as Carl in ’Skin(ny)’. Fast approaching his 21st birthday he finds himself having to confront his sexuality along with the eating disorder it has inadvertently led to, resulting in him feeling like ‘an imposter in my own body’. It’s a strong and compelling piece where the strength of the writing is matched only by a performance that commands the audience’s full attention throughout.
Despite these more memorable pieces, I must confess this years showcase ultimately left me needing a bit more by the end of the evening, which isn’t to say these weren’t engaging looks at various aspects of queer life, but for an event now on it’s third outing I suppose it’s unavoidable to want to make comparisons between them, and for this audience member the evening just seemed a bit shy of the same originality and diversity that previously prompted me to enthusiastically report that the future of LGBT Theatre was in good hands. This time around those hands felt equally as competent if marginally a little less compelling.
★★★★
