I feel love - The Guardian on 'gay theatre'.

[tjwmason]

I feel love

In the angry 1980s gay drama was stuck on the fringes. Now it's marching into the mainstream, says Matthew Todd

Thursday June 29, 2006
The Guardian


Plague and prejudice ... Anthony Calf and Joe Duttine in the Royal Court's 1994 hit about Aids, My Night With Reg. Photograph: Tristram Kenton


A few weeks ago I got an email from a gay man in his early 20s turning down an invitation to see my play, Blowing Whistles. "Thanks, but no thanks," he said. "I'm not into gay plays. I'm too assimilated."

I find it strange that someone who describes himself as assimilated would choose the term "gay play" and not just "play", but I do know what he means. Many of the fringe plays that have grabbed the attention of gay magazines and websites over the past decade have been little more than flesh fests, with little originality or artistic credibility. At the same time, gay characters and storylines have been coopted by mainstream entertainment - from Coronation Street's gay barman to the BBC's adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty, even if the latter was promoted as period drama rather than gay TV.

My friend's dislike of "gay theatre" is of course not just about the theatre, but about gay culture's massive leap away from the ghetto. There has always been conflict between those gay people who have wanted to be absorbed into mainstream culture, and those who have wanted to celebrate and emphasise the very things that make us different. It seems that slowly but surely the assimilationists are winning the battle: now even the Sun wishes David and Elton its best on their wedding day.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1808584,00.html

Interesting read, perhaps also a sign of hope to our friends over the ocean that things really can get better.

[xchrom]

1. ''too assimilated'' means illiterate.

gay folk have made tremendous contributions to the world of litereature -- and mostly under the radar.

never talking about our lives -- or believing that our lives could have meaning in the greater world.

i hope that we are never ''assimilated'' back into invisibility.

[tjwmason]

2. Yes and no.

There's a difference between invisibility and people not being bothered and not noticing as a result.

That's what the article suggested to me - that being gay or straight ceases to be an issue beyond the bedrooms of the people concerned.

[xchrom]

3. literature in itself is the marker for human lives.

our sexuality never, ever ceases to be an issue.

it's one of those ... things ... that tells the story ... makes a map of our{all} -- our lives.

now and for the foreseeable future -- gayness, bisexuality , transgenered -- no matter how it might look like the dominate, straight universe most certainly will still be ''strange'' for lack of a better word.

there is tremendous beauty -- great stories -- to be told about our difference -- our beautiful strangeness.

you and i will never live to see the day when it doesn't make a difference -- the difference of a whole universe.

we are not them -- nor should we strive to be.

[Duncan Grant]

4. I'm not a proponent of "assimilation".

I take a larger view of what constitutes gay culture.

I say it serves a vibrant role which often subverts the dominant culture; it is a place of cultural renewal, vision and exploration. And on an individual basis, gay culture embraces the pursuit of personal power and freedom. To me, this explains the hysteria of people who hate us. "Us" being not only GLBT people but also our straight friends who have a queer sensibility.

To add more fuel to the fire, I believe that choosing to be gay is just as culturally legitimate as choosing to be 'saved'. Furthermore, genetic justifications for same-sex attraction won't protect any of us from cultural repression. It's not as if our enemies will suddenly say, "Oh, okay. We were wrong. We accept you now." Coming out, choosing to be gay has powerful cultural repercussions -- and the conservative right hates it. If you don't know why they hate it, then we should really be talking about that.

I do have a comment to make about the article. AIDS is always in caps because it's an acronym. Gay writers should know better.

[readmoreoften]

5. He should thank the people who made his assimilation possible.

You know, all those uppity queers who challenged the system and fought for his rights. I can't believe conservative gays are embracing the word assimilation. They can assimilate because they are ALLOWED to assimilate. Where are all the assimilationist genderqueers. Where's all the folks who say, "you know I'm an assimilationist queen," or "I'm an assimilationist hard butch dyke."

A few straight liberals accept you and you think you're free. Get out of the fucking city.