WIG OUT! To 10 January.
London.
WIG OUT!
by Tarell Alvin McCraney.
Royal Court Theatre (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 10 January 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30, Mat Sat 3.30pm.
*Audio-described 6 Dec 6 3.30pm.
*Captioned performance, 6 Dec 6 7.30pm.
Post-show talk 18 Dec.
Runs 2 hr One interval.
TICKETS 020 7565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.co.uk
Review: Carole Woddis 1 December.
Gay play never – and always – drags.
This is the third play London theatregoers have seen this year by young Black American playwright, Tarell Alvin McCraney and the most daring. The Brothers SizeIn the Red and Brown Water surfaced earlier in the autumn at the Young Vic. This is the first time the Royal Court have staged him and in keeping with the subject matter – New York drag queens – the stalls have been transformed into an amazing catwalk.
Amazing, because the second half of Dominic Cooke’s production is given over almost entirely to a fashion show parade of glittering, darkly glamorous, spangly drag queens strutting their stuff and competing for the title of top Queen at their annual Ball.
Camping it up in style – and there is plenty of that and some fabulous wigs on show, courtesy of Ultz – is not however this production’s be-all and end-all, dynamic though it is thanks to Dominic Cooke’s finger-snapping, lipsynching, inspired touches.
McCraney, as always, has deeper things in mind. Unlike many gay plays involving drag queens, this not an excuse for a dose of twittering misogyny but a real attempt to convey heartbreak emotions about love.
It may be, as is usual with McCraney, highly metaphorical. The Drag Ball is poised between two competing `houses’, the House of Light, reigned over by `mother’ Rey-Rey and founding `father’, Lucian, against the House of Diabolique, ruled by Serena (Billy Carter, looking for all the world like a cross between Boy George and the late performance artist, Leigh Bowery) and all overseen by three female `Fates’.
McCraney’s writing, zippy, streetwise though it is, is also hugely compassionate. He has a way of changing ugly reality into three-dimensional beauty by introducing back-stories and other generations. So it is here.
“My grandmother wore a wig,” becomes a mantra from which many of the characters begin to tell their inner story. “My father wore a wig,” says Lucian, revealing his father’s hidden self. “I wondered about the man my father wore a wig for. I wondered what power he had to make my father be a woman for him.” Stunning moment, mesmerising piece.
Fay: Holly Quin-Ankrah.
Fate: Kate Gillespie.
Faith: Jessika Williams.
Wilson/Nina: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.
Eric: Alex Lanipekun.
Rey-Rey: Kevin Harvey.
Loki: Drew Caiden.
Lucian: Danny Sapani.
Venus: Craig Stein.
Deity: Leon Lopez.
Serena: Billy Carter.
Director: Dominic Cooke.
Designer/Costume: Ultz.
Lighting: Chahine Yavroyan.
Sound: Ian Dickinson.
Music Director: Alex Silverman.
Choreographer: Manwe.
Hair/Make-up: Kerrie-Ann Murphy.
Dialect coach: Penny Dyer.
Assistant director: Natalie Ibu.
Assistant designer: Mark Simmonds.
It was first produced by the Vineyard Theater, New York, Sept 2008.
Wig Out! was developed with the assistance of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program.
* Audio-Described Performances: tel: 020 7565 5100;
Captioned Performances: email boxoffice@royalcourttheatre.com
2008-12-04 01:54:39