Fri 29 Jun 2012 In: Performance View at Wayback View at NDHA
Mates and Lovers Written and directed by Ronald T. Nelson Starring Paora Taurima and Simon K. Leary The Playhouse, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Hamilton Until Saturday 30 June Two of our gay Kiwi predecessors Mates and Lovers, the stage play not the book on which it is based, has gently morphed into a slightly different animal to what those of us who have seen it before in other cities remember. It is more sexual and more sensual. It's way more horny. There's more humour, more subtlety and more contemporary references. In essence it's still the same excellent production. Paora Taurima and Simon K. Leary take us through a series of vignettes based on historical records and hints of what it was like to be a gay man starting with the era when Maori and Pakeha cultures first collided. They illustrate everything from Bay of Islands missionaries humping Maori lads (and vice versa) to gay pride and the journey between including colonial cruising, homophobia, the dreaded Electro-Convulsive Therapy, the Kiwi Concert Party in North Africa, doing the bogs, the campaign for homosexual law reform, HIV, tawdry drag shows, serving MPs with dubious reputations and late night K Rd. pickups. Simon K Leary