A catalog description of Topher Payne’s Angry Fags, now on stage at convergence- continuum, cautions that the script contains “alcohol, gunshots, intense adult themes, strong language, nudity/partial nudity and smoking.” What it doesn’t alert you to is the unexpected and shocking ending.
Payne explained of his writing, “If you can make someone laugh, they listen. And they lean in and they want to hear more. And once you have that level of engagement, then you can start layering in a message that you want them to take away.”
Angry Fags originally premiered at 7 Stages in Atlanta, GA in February. A revised version of the work was developed. It is this version that is on stage at con-con.
A review of an earlier production of Angry Fags bannered the show as an “uncompromising Oscar Wilde-meets-Fight Club fantasia.” Another stated, “A gay gentleman’s guide to love and murder […] Filled with tension but laced with moments of black humor and rigged with unexpected twists and turns.” Still another writer indicated, “Vicious, deliciously subversive, brutal and breathtakingly funny, this dystopian revenge tragedy pushes every button.”
So what’s the show about?
“An out lesbian state senator is up for re-election. Her female opponent is an [African American] moderate conservative who’s aligned herself with right-wing extremists. They’re locked in a tight race in which each side dog-whistles to its base and any event can become instantaneously politicized. When a gay man is bashed with a baseball bat and left to die, his ex-boyfriend, a campaign aide for the incumbent senator, is enraged. But it’s the unwillingness of his boss to label it a hate crime that tips him over the edge. Teaming up with his best friend, the two men embark on a vendetta of sabotage and assassinations, reasoning that if gays aren’t respected enough to win equal justice and rights, fear will achieve what good intentions and politics cannot.”
The con-con production, under the direction of Scott Zolkowski, is compelling at times, missing its humor, pace and dynamics at others. Greatly missing is the author’s promise of the “moments of black humor. “
The story line is nicely developed and effectively sneaks up on its surprising, even shocking ending.
The cast is uneven in their talents and abilities to develop clear and consistent characters. Some of this is the lack of theatrical experience of some of the performers, some due to the director’s inability to get the actors to project and understand the motivation behind their actions.
Handsome, sensual Adam Harry swings from calm to hysterical, from clothed to unclothed, with scary ease. His Cooper Harlow effectively shows tendencies of a drama queen, while also being a dedicated, if unhinged, friend. His “partner in crime,” slight David Lenahan as the easily manipulated Bennett Riggs, has some difficulty walking a consistent line between showing the character’s desires and his actions.
Valerie Young, as she has proven in the past, does a creditable job of developing the role of Dierdre Preston, an on-air newscaster. Joan Jankowski (Senator Allison Haines) and Amanda Rowe-Van Allen (Kimberly Phillips, Senator Haines’ assistant) are believable in their role developments.
Jack Matuszewsk (Adam Lowell, Senator Haines’ campaign director, Bennett’s lover and XXX…can’t reveal this or it blows the plot open) makes the character’s swing of personas with surprising ease, though some of his lines sound read rather than spoken.
Natalya Duncan puts out full effort, but never makes a real person of Peggy Musgrove, the Republican senatorial candidate.
Neil Sudhakaran’s projections aid to clarify the multiple settings needed to flesh out the show. The floor design, bannering the issues of the day, were creatively conceived and executed by Cory Molner and Scott Zolkowski.
Don’t get all worked up by the fact that the program lists an Intimacy Director as part of the production staff. Yes, there are some male-male kisses, and Adam Harry flounces around in nothing but a pair of black bikini-briefs, and two of the guys appear in towels wrapped only around the lower parts of their nude bods, but sex is not on the docket.
Capsule judgement: Con-con’s cult audience will be pleased by the presence of lots of male partial nudity, a non-traditional story, and the gay theme. Others will be intrigued by the author’s ability to lead down one path and throw a curve ball into the action and then surprise with a startling ending All in all, even with some of the weak performances, this is a production worth seeing.
The show runs from July 8-30 at Cleveland’s upclose and OUT-there theater, the Liminis is Tremont. For tickets go to www.convergence-continuum.org
Up next: Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley from August 26-September 17. “Haley’s suspenseful play displays cautionary messages about inattentive parents of teenagers addicted to online video games.