Review by Paul Towers, 7/7/22
Riot Act by Alexis Gregory
Directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair
Produced by Alexis Gregory & Emmerson Ward Productions
At Curve 7 July 2022 and then touring
“How Gay history has evolved”
Fifty three years ago two momentous things happened. Judy Garland died and the Stonewall Riots happened. The two events are forever intertwined in gay history.
Riot Act is a theatrical triptych of how this moment in history has coloured gay civil rights to this day.
Michael is a New York drag queen who, at the age of 17, was actually at the Stonewall Riot. Too young to be in the thick of it he circled the periphery helping the injured. This meant he was able to see how everything unfolded, the police brutality, the Mafia intervention and how the fight-back on that night became the Gay Liberation movement.
Alexis’ next character, Lavinia, is a radical drag artist, a member of the infamous Bloo Lips troop in the 70’s challenging gender politics long before the current woke brigade.
His third character, Paul, is a prominent AIDS activist, campaigning to this day for the very best medical treatment and awareness. His experiences of how AIDS patients were treated is horrific.
All three of these characters are real people, interviewed by Gregory and their lives distilled into funny, sad and sometimes unbearable stories that we should all listen to lest the same mistakes are made again.
Alexis Gregory is not only an amazing actor but his writing skills are astonishing. Each character is clearly defined as we enter their world.
This is theatre that should be compulsory viewing for every young gay stepping out into the world for the first time. They should be learning from the elder gays that went before them
No comments:
Post a Comment