Solo Show At the Flash Looks at a Single Gay Bar Through the Decades

scottzwartz topcommenter

Morris does seem squeamish about Gay Hist-orgy, but this is a review -- not a news article.

The long debate over Gay Marriage has had the tendency to alter our perception of Gay Life. One cannot argue that "we are just like you" to Heteros, while explaining the great benefit to society for Gays' having tons and tons of temporary sexual partners. Tricks is a better word. Although we can never go back to prove or disprove it, 9/11 might have been averted if even one or two of the field operatives, who were trying to alert the bigwigs to the Arabs learning to take off but not land, had been Gay. Chances are reasonably good that the field operatives would have tricked with a few of some FBI bigwigs and they could have called on the private cell phones and made certain this vital information was not ignored.

Organizations with lots of Gays develop alternative routes of communication. Gay life is less stratified and a Gay doctor is very likely to be friendly with a Gay plumber, etc. Sexual attraction cuts across all other lines separating men, especially when it is only for a brief trick. (Yes, it is often about "new."). Gays have relationships across a great age range. Although Gays tend to be aggressive, they seldom allow that to turn into violent aggression. That's why there are so few fights at Gay bars.

So for now, it is sooo Politically Correct to deny that Gays are any different from Straights, but statistically we do have different socialization patterns, and those patterns are good for us and for society in general.

siggy

Sorry, Steven, that you were so seriously misunderstood. But if you re-read what you wrote, there's an undercurrent of disapproval and criticism about MacKinnon's show that you don't conjure up in the current review. It would have helped you and your readers to have included the info in your comment - and that's all it would have taken....

slmorris

1 Like

Wow. I enjoyed MacKinnon's show very much and gave it a GO. Since when is describing a show as having ribald humor "laying into" it? I enjoyed both shows and was comparing them, not contrasting them.--SLM

slmorris

1 Like

glitterballz

1 Like

I can't wait for the Gay Hist-orgy Part 3 next weekend! Ian MacKinnon has been ahead of the curve with his frenzied romp through time to uncover not just decades, but centuries of gay history. Rumi, Karl Ulrichs, Alexander the Great, and Bayard Rustin are just a few of the pioneers that McKinnon schools us about as they paved the way for the gay community to stand tall today. I look forward to seeing both pieces mentioned here!

benj.fritz

2 Like

Glad to hear Steven liked Leeper's show, but it sounds like he only likes gay material if it's toned down. Which is fine. But the way he lays into MacKinnon leads one to believe that he's just here to heap more shame and guilt onto the sex-negativism that dominates our culutre as a whole. Steven basically chastises MacKinnon for not being afraid to be himself and raise his freak flag. It seems that Steven would prefer his gays in his world to assimilate into society without making any waves - essentially, keep it in the closet.

Oh, and let's remember people, this is entertainment!!

FierceFriend

3 Like

Antithesis or not, this reviewer does an injustice to both shows by pairing them together in such a way, which merely serves to immediately slap the reader with the authors vitriol and uptight mind. The obviously flawed viewpoint alone makes me cherish both these shows, for the reaction seems to stem from yet another one of those stereotypically snarky reviewers who doesn’t have the vision required for his role, so instead seeks to rip down true visionary artistic voices.

This is 2013, and you would think modern reviewers would have moved beyond that feeble paradigm, but that battle still wages. I am a biased fan and admirer of Ian MacKinnon’s remarkable show, having seen it in various incarnations — because it is that much of entertaining show and world-view antidote to the messed up ills of a still violently oppressive heterosexual modern life. It is a bold and important work, one that does indeed strike a strident chord as suggested, but a brave one in clear and striking opposition to an abusive society that has marred the development and freedom of sexuality throughout time.

However, I do feel that in as much of an epic fail this review is, that it does stir up conversation and hopefully encourage the artists of both shows to keep fighting a worthy cause --- and for readers (if they still exist out there in any important amount) to realize they need to see both of these works while they can, so they can all get in on the debate and determine for themselves what true art is.

siggy

3 Like

ragequeen has it completely nailed. The comparison does nothing to enlighten readers/viewers, and is irrelevant to the current review. MacKinnon's performance is in your face, no doubt, and it sounds like it made the reviewer very uncomfortable. That's what great art wants to do - challenge, inform, take risks, even get a little raunchy in doing so, especially when dealing with a subject that so often tries to steer clear of raunch in order not to offend and ends up being impotent by doing so. The reviewer probably doesn't much like drag queens, either - and we'd be infinitely less advanced in our understanding and acceptance of homosexuality than we are if it weren't for them.

rebutrebut

3 Like

For a theater critic to fault a show called Gay Hist-Orgy for having ribald jokes shows a lack of more than just a sense of humor!

ragequeen

5 Like

I second that... have you no better technique to form an opinion than to compare a completely different show by a completely different artist, whose goals and messages are likely very different. I have not seen the current show that you speak of, but I have seen Mr MacKinnon's. His show is a brave attempt to embody and own his gay spirit, and share a gay-centered and psychological view of the world and Self development. This aim and view is sorely missing in our current assimilationist gay culture. Self development as a gay man, which mind you cannot be fully explored without the all important Eros and Sexuality of same-sex love, which MacKinnon evoked beautifully and erotically with the images you so ignorantly dismiss- caught up in what I can only assume is your own internalized homophobia. I am looking forward to his next installment in Part 3! If you ask me, we need more shows that share gay spirit with the world, and gay history without apology, and less half-assed reviews such as this.

p5494271

4 Like

Is the first part of this a review of Ian MacKinnon's new show or a show from last year?? What is the point of reviewing something that closed last year OR judging a new play by another play from last year ?
I thought the LA Weekly had better standards than this !