Talk to any LGBTIQA person (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning and Allied) and there is a coming out story. And another. And another. There is always another person, organization or situation where coming out is required. Talk to any young adult of any persuasion about their growing up and there is a story of angst and anger and hopeful resolution.
Can these two life experiences be pulled together to create a theatre piece? Not in the case of OUT playing at King Street Theatre. Maybe eventually but not for now.
OUT, in the documentary theatre genre, is the writer, director and actor Ross Green’s memories and experiences of becoming an out gay man. The influence of the coming out of high profile people like Tom Daley and Ellen Page is alluded to.
The performance begins with a re-creation of his younger self at his coming out dinner with his hand clappy, Christian mother and the power of a parent’s acceptance. We hear about previous struggles to be heteronormative in his church and in his relationships whilestharbouring a secret Gay porn addiction. The effects of his coming out, on him, are also included.
Ross Green does have power as a performer. He sometimes pulls the audience into his world with his conversational style. His initial thoughts about how every gay person will reach the point of coming out for the first time is evocative and thought provoking.
He shows evidence of being able to write for the stage. The story about a welcome, if accidental, girly present from his Grandmother is well concluded. “I know there was a tantrum involved.”
This show, as it stands, however, is not ready. My friend Sue-Ann Post made the homologue an artform in the 1990’s but OUT is billed as a theatre piece not a stand-up… let me tell you what happened to me… event.
In its current form, good points are raised but it is preachy and proselytizing especially at the end when the performer is reading from a piece of paper. It runs not much more than half an hour with little light and shade. The performer dried badly. The first video sequence is poorly edited and does not serve as a suitable scene setter.
Either this artist or some agency has done Eye Level Theatre a disservice in bringing this formally to the stage before it has had enough targeted critiquing. I would definitely go to a workshop where the show was being presented as a work in progress. What I cannot do, is recommend an event that is $30 admittance and part of a major cultural festival.
Is Ross Green’s experience worth telling? Yes of course. Why? It just is. And … because he puts effort into the creation of a telling. I can’t speak to the orientation of the other nine people in the audience but straight audiences need an experience they can respond to with laughter and love, and gay audiences need to see more than just a work they could have penned themselves.
Eye Level Theatre’s production OUT played a brief season at the King Street Theatre as part of this year’s Mardi Gras Festival.