Glitter and Be Gay

This August Pleasance featured two heavily promoted shows where gay men battle their homophobic families in real or remembered time: the excellent Tom at the Farm and the indulgent therapy-fest Champions. Fortunately these shows’ thematic opposites also popped up in Edinburgh, three shows where the young gay men are not only accepted by their real and adopted families but also loud and proud, even if their closeted lovers sometimes aren’t.

An Adequate Abridgment of Boarding School Life as a Homo

With An Adequate Abridgment of Boarding School Life as a Homo, Ned Blackburn has not only written a great role for himself, he’s crafted a terrific play. Blackburn plays Johnny, an unapologetically gay student who’s secretly having it on with Harry, one of the school’s allegedly straight star rugby players who isn’t like most of his fellow first- team mates. “Harry Carter Greene is a little bit more sensitive, which almost makes him more intimidating, almost like you can’t work out whether he wants to fuck you or fight you.” Johnny isn’t too bothered by Harry’s secrecy; the sex is too good to rock that boat.

Johnny is forced to play rugby (it’s compulsory at the school), and he knows he’s rubbish, but he doesn’t overly mind thanks to “the allure of the changing rooms, the rich combination of Lynx Africa and bum sweat.” But outside of the school, Johnny isn’t sure where in the gay world he fits in: “Because in my mind I’m a dirty, ravenous, flaming homosexual. In my mind. But in reality, I’m more of a mild homosexual. Less paprika, more vanilla bean.”

Johnny can’t wait to finish school, but he’s not a particularly good student and is clueless about what he’ll do next. Little surprise he can’t get through the assigned Waiting For Godot. But unlike the lives of Estragon and Vladimir, something major is about to happen to Johnny, something that will force him to reevaluate everything he has accepted and will accept going forward.

Directors Meg Bowron and Josh Stainer deserve plaudits for their impeccable staging of this moving play, as well as for the excellent performances they get out of their two fine actors. Blackburn is funny and heartbreaking as Johnny, and the fantastic Will Walford somehow effortlessly jumps between playing Harry and more than a half- dozen other characters. All the aforementioned make Johnny’s story soar, even as he stands on the ground looking up, hoping for a better tomorrow.

Sugar

In Sugar, an Australian cash-starved twink artiste (Tomáš Kantor) decides to fix their situation by treating sex as a mutually beneficial transactional relationship. Besides a paltry bank balance, their major inspiration is Pretty Woman, the 1990 box-office smash about a Hollywood escort that made Julia Roberts a superstar. As Sugar is set in the present, there’s something a bit twisted and admittedly hilarious that its protagonist is inspired by a film that was released long before they were born. Perhaps that’s intentional. If the savvy Sugar had been around then, they would know that even at the time of its opening the film was considered by many to be problematic, for reasons that Sugar will soon discover on their own but not before asking: “What would Julia do?”

Sugar finds their sugar daddy in Richard (nope, the name is not accidental; this show does not swim in subtleties), a six-foot hunk portrayed by a hairy blow-up doll. The sex is great, as is the musical number that represents the liaison, a sensual dance with a cello. Afterwards, Richard leaves Sugar $2,000, money that Sugar believes they deserve: “My sex is worth a tip.” Unfortunately, and predictably, the honeymoon phase for this new duo will soon face some serious speed bumps.

As tempting as it occasionally is to roll one’s eyes at any of these non-binary modern-day Pretty Woman shenanigans, the indomitable spirit and talent of Kantor cannot be denied. Kantor elevates Ro Bright’s witty and fast-moving script with irresistible energy and charm, and the result is a never-dull show. When Kantor performs great songs by, among others, Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue, a rainbow might as well explode on stage to mark the fabulousness of the occasion.

Sauna Boy

In 2022 Dan Ireland-Reeves got a job in his town’s infamous gay sauna, where he quickly earned the sobriquet “Danny Boy” among the sauna’s colourful staff, including Alan, the sauna’s owner known to all as “Mother”. For 358 days — one week short of a year — Danny Boy spent most of his waking hours at work learning the ropes and striving hard to improve the joint. Two months in, he was named manager. Why Danny Boy didn’t make it to his one-year work anniversary is the foundation of his autobiographical solo show, Sauna Boy.

Ireland-Reeves is a compelling and lively stage presence, and this sex-filled monologue can’t help but hold interest. Fortunately, while his anecdotes often border on titillating or awkward, he’s never judgmental or less than affectionate, even when portraying people who might possibly deserve a harsher portrayal.

What’s missing from Sauna Boy are gripping dramatic stakes. What does Danny Boy want? He has a goal to sell out all of the sauna’s 80 lockers at least once, but that doesn’t tell us what made him look for a job in the sauna in the first place, nor what keeps him there. Those questions aside, Sauna Boy has plenty else to offer. Ireland- Reeves has fashioned a sympathetic piece about the need for friendship, connection and community.