If you want this weekend’s LGBT festivities to continue, there are plenty of Fringe shows with queer themes – but don’t count on seeing many bare asses in leather chaps onstage.
Two historic scripts with queer themes get productions this year. Michel Tremblay’s rarely staged 1969 La Duchesse De Langeais (from July 7 at The Central) is a monologue by a transvestite troubled by love. The current staging, in a bar, divides the character into three separate aspects.
Three men jailed in the same cell fight their lustful instincts and indulge their gay fantasies in Keep Tightly Closed In A Cool Dry Place, written by seminal 60s American playwright Megan Terry (from July 8 at Passe Muraille Mainspace).
If you’re a gay history buff, pop open Alex Kentris’s Bordeaux (from July 7 at the Factory Studio). Set in 19th-century France, it’s about a man who has to reconcile his feelings for his male ex and the woman he’s currently involved with.
Going for a pee break between shows will definitely feel different after watching Queer Bathroom Monologues (from July 6 at Passe Muraille Mainspace). Sheila L. Cavanagh’s play is based on interviews from her book about sex and gender in Toronto’s public facilities, in the tradition of The Vagina Monologues.
And what would the Fringe be without a couple of gay-themed musicals?
Michael Hughes’s pseudo-memoir Mickey & Judy (from July 8 at the Tarragon Extra Space) traces the writer/performer’s fascination with show tunes as he moves from therapist’s couch to the Off-Broadway stage. Yes, there are lots of showstoppers.
And in the musical drama Living With Henry (from July 7 at the George Ignatieff Theatre), Christopher Wilson looks at the challenges of living with HIV/AIDS in today’s world.
