Review by: Paul Towers, 21/6/19
Dear Sir by Ross Thomson
A Ten 29 Theatre production
Upstairs @ The Western, 21 June 2019
“What Makes A Man a Man.”
We all look back at our lives and wonder what would have
happened if we had taken a different path, made a different decision.
In Dear Sir 20-something Ross writes a series of letters to
his younger self showing where he may have taken the wrong path and where he
maybe worried too much.
Growing up in Scotland Ross was pressured from an early age
to ‘be a man’, act manly, treat women in a certain way (very appropriate for
the #MeToo generation’s sensibilities). Like so many young men he allowed himself
to be swept along on that false premise of what a man should be. And of course
he made mistakes. Fortunately not ones that hurt anyone else. However they did
hurt his mental health.
Dear Sir is a very personal examination of how those pressures and expectations can damage
you.
Alongside the letters to his younger self, Ross uses a fairy
tale to illustrate how imagination, fantasy and delusion can so easily combine
to throw you onto the shipwrecked rocks of life if you are not careful and
mindful.
This cautionary tale could so easily have been titled What
Makes A Man a Man, especially as Ross finally finds his peace as a gay man. In
turns thought provoking and funny this should be required viewing for all
teenagers to reassure them that it will be alright in the end, if you let it.
Upstairs at The Western http://upstairsatthewestern.com/
First published on Western Gazette
First published on Western Gazette
