‘Evil, unspeakable, and not quite nice
“Lobotomy. lobotomy, I'm crazy about lobotomy. The only cure for some poor soul who irants to practise sodomy." These rather risque lines are just a taste of what audiences can expect from "Give us a kiss . . . and we'll tell you." the show which is billed as New Zealand's first ever gay revue. Christchurch audiences will be able to see this irreverent examination of the “evil, quite unspeakable and not quite nice” subject of homosexuality when the revue is performed at the Southern Ballet Theatre from Thursday to Saturday this week. The show is mak-
ing a three-week national tour.
The music and some of the lyrics were written by William Dart, an Auckland composer, pianist, teacher and writer. John Curry, an actor and director at the Court Theatre, wrote the lyrics for about half the songs, and some are by Ross Fraser.
Written early last year, the show was given a trial season by the Auckland gay theatre group, Laetus Players. It was so well received that the New Zealand Students Arts Council decided to sponsor a new production. this time
directed by John Curry, on a national tour. The idea for "Give us a kiss" came from Mervyn Thompson's "Songs to the Judges." a musical show which explored the situation of the Maori people in New Zealand. William Dart wrote the music for this show and was its musical director.
“I began to think that there were many other issues that could be explored through thoughtful, radical drama, such as feminism or homosexuality," says William Dart.
The generally "dreary" nature of gay theatre and the recent suicide of a gay friend capped Dart’s resolve to
write the show. “Give us a kiss" uses a cabaret format and 20 fastmoving songs to look at some of the chapters in gay history. It covers incidents such as the Stonewall riots, when the police clashed with gays in America in 1974. some of the Biblical strictures against homosexuality, and some famous (and not so famous) gays. John Curry says he got the idea for the show’s title from an old school-boy joke: "One of us is queer, boys. Give us a kiss and I’ll tell you who.”
Both Dart and Curry believe that humour is a good way to deal with the touchy subject- of homosexuality. But they did not set out to write a show that would appeal only to gays or that was full of consciousnessraising propaganda.
“I want to titillate, tease and above all, entertain the audience," says Dart. "It’s very easy to do hard-core protest. I wanted something more subtle than that, something witty." John Curry says the show
By
KARREN BEANLAND
is "reasonable" and should appeal to most people — "there is no nudity or ’rude acts’ in it." He does blanch in horror at the suggestions that some of Christchurch's more narrow-minded citizens may attend, however.
While the show is not propaganda, he does describe it as "my way of being political." He wants to show the "normal" side of gay people’s lives.
"We all have our prejudices and we are not going to make people alter them by saying they are wrong to have them," he says. "We have to make them experience other emotions and ways of life so that they realise that people are different, but the same.
"People are aware of emotional blackmail and any of us will get bolshy when we know someone is trying to
make us change. We have tried to tease the audience instead." Humour is a very powerful medium, he believes. "People are often very insecure about sexuality anil incredibly on the defensive about it. It is a very difficult area and that is why there is so much humour about it — it is people’s way of coping with it." The tour of "Give us a kiss" marks the tenth anniversary of the gay rights movement in New Zealand. John Curry says this is a coincidence, but he sees it as important nevertheless. The gay movement has been a great help to gays, he adds. “When we started work on this we found that the material is endless. It is very interesting that gay history is only now, 10 years after the gay rights movement started, becoming available.
"There is a lot of gay history that is hidden and a lot of things that people just don't know about. You will be surprised to find out how many famous people were gay-" John Curry and William Dart have worked together on a number of occasions. Curry says he wrote most of the sad and more serious songs — "J don’t like to be morbid, but that is my bent." Originally from Auckland. John Curry came to the Court • Theatre abut two years and a half ago. He is familiar to local audiences as an actor and director, but he has also written several plays. William Dart, who has been described as one of New Zealand’s most, outstanding theatre composers, is well-known in many spheres. Besides being a private music teacher, he writes a regular column for the “Listener,” compiles and comperes programmes for Radio New Zealand and is the assistant editor of "Art New Zealand.”
Log in