From 2009, probably for Xtra, these were my top ten queer plays at the time.
TOP TEN PLAYS EVERY GAY PERSON SHOULD KNOW
By Brad Fraser
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Tennessee Williams.
Williams’ southern steamer combines an angry female sexuality with repressed gay conflict in this family drama that looks at marriage, life, death and sexuality from a number of different angles. One of William’s few plays that actually explores the sexuality of men as much as that of his more famous female characters such as Maggie the cat.
Boys in the Band. Mart Crowley.
Once a great hit, now much maligned, Crowley’s late 60’s look at a group of gay friends at a Manhattan birthday party still tells a number of unpleasant truths that the denial queens keep trying to repudiate. Much funnier and smarter than many remember this was the first gay themed, gay written play to achieve world-wide acceptance.
Take Me Out. Richard Greenberg.
Greenberg’s 2002 baseball drama looks at issues of race, friendship, betrayal and masculinity through the prism of a conceited, beautiful player who tests everyone’s idea of tolerance. Any show that brings full frontal group male nudity to Broadway deserves mention.
Poor Super Man. Brad Fraser.
My own mid-90’s meditation on gender roles, elastic sexuality and friendship set amid the worst days of the AIDS crisis also reverberates with the hidden meanings of pop culture icons and comic books. Not as highbrow as Angels in America, both scripts provide a hard hitting look at a very trying period.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? Edward Albee.
Those familiar with the dirge-like mid-60’s film are always surprised at how savagely funny Albee’s illustration of a negative, co-dependent marriage actually is onstage. The dialogue can still blister paint and the rhythms of the language are Albee’s alone. A true classic. Included not for gay content, but the style the queer playwright brings to it.
Bent. Martin Sherman.
This surprisingly hopeful and heartbreaking tale of gay prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War initially got attention for introducing the stunning young Richard Gere to NY theatre audiences. The show is still produced today because it is a beautifully written script about the power of love to overcome all evil.
The Shooting Stage. Michael Lewis McLennan.
The best under-produced queer themed play this country has seen. McLennan’s musings on the dynamics of the straight father/gay son dynamic is one of the best ever. It’s funny, theatrical and breathtakingly emotional. The fact that Buddies in Bad Times hasn’t produced this play yet is a crime.
A Beautiful View. Daniel MacIvor.
True love knows no borders in MacIvor’s ticklish tragicomedy about two non-lesbian women who fall for each other. As much a love letter to Toronto’s alternative scene as it is to the profound idea of love beyond our control this show manages to achieve a universal desire that speaks to everyone and anyone. Quirky, likable and a beautiful gift to any two actors.
Equus. Peter Schaffer.
Recently revived on Broadway with Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe as the crazy nude kid who stabs out the eyes of six horses with a spike, this script is often sneered at by the snobbish side of the theatre establishment for it’s sometimes manufactured arguments on obsession and love. Those same critics fail to account for the theatrical power of the horse metaphor and the anguished sexuality of the young leads. Much gayer in form than in content.
Fortune and Men’s Eyes. John Herbert.
Nearly forgotten today this play is still one of the most successful Canadian plays of all time. It was Showtime’s “OZ” three decades before the prison drama hit TV, telling the story of an aging queen, a tough punk and a sensitive twink clashing behind bars. After many productions worldwide and a run off-Broadway in the early 70’s this show is long overdue for a revival.
TOP TEN QUEER CANADIAN WRITERS WHOSE WORK ISN’T ON THIS LIST.
Bryden McDonald
Edward Roy
Sky Gilbert
Anne-Marie McDonald
Kent Stetson
Morris Panych
Brian Drader
Michel Marc Bouchard
Robert Lepage
Diane Flacks
(Photo from the 2015 LA revival of “Bent”)
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