Preview
STANDupHOMO
High Performance Rodeo
Created and performed by Nathan Cuckow
Directed by Kevin Sutley
Runs January 25 to 27
Big Secret Theatre (Epcor Centre)
When I interviewed Nathan Cuckow two years ago, he was about to present a reading of STANDupHOMO at Edmonton’s Loud ’n’ Queer Cabaret. It was there that Cuckow’s incendiary solo show about a repressed queer comic had begun assembling itself years earlier, via monologues and rants such as "Homologue" and "P.S. I’m Gay" (not to be confused with Cuckow’s former rap group Cocksuckas and the Femine-emme Doctor Gay).
With support from the cabaret and Edmonton’s Guys In Disguise, STANDupHOMO went on to become a smash hit at the Edmonton Fringe. But then, thanks to further nurturing from One Yellow Rabbit’s Michael Green, the play was given a whole new act, maturing like a fine wine in the process.
Now Cuckow has been honing this latest version as he prepares to bring it to OYR’s High Performance Rodeo.
"I’m not a stand-up by any means or have any intention of becoming one," he says, "but I’ve been able to workshop and perform excerpts, and try things out in front of audiences, so the material has really evolved."
In STANDupHOMO, Cuckow blurs the line between a stand-up routine and real life as he plays a comedian who finds himself suddenly channelling all the demons unleashed from his proverbial closet. His rather inept family members interrupt the routine, including his father the bishop, his bitchy tranny sister Princess and his macho, John Wayne-loving cowboy brother. Whether the family members are real or merely an extension of the comedian is intentionally ambiguous.
"It’s about persona and identity," says Cuckow. "Ultimately, it’s a story of standing up to be who you are. I’d like to think that’s universal, that you could substitute being gay for being black or being a woman. In that sense, it’s definitely political."
Adding to all the repression is the fact Cuckow’s character is a gay Mormon (not an uncommon combination for audiences thanks to Tony Kushner’s Angels in America). Originally, Cuckow wrote the piece with less focus on a specific religion, but having been a Mormon himself, decided to deepen his personal connections.
"A large part of the show is about the existence of God," says Cuckow. "It still does target all kinds of religion, but I chose for this character to be Mormon. They don’t agree with sex before marriage, and so of course they don’t believe in gay marriage because it’s not pro-family. This is about standing up to be who you are against religious and social and family pressure that can cause repression."
The play combines the traditional stand-up trappings of a brick-wall backdrop, stool and microphone with an actual closet from which issue screaming voices from the lead character’s subconscious. For the audience, the setting is either a comedy club or a theatre; regardless, Cuckow’s been adjusting his jokes regularly as he plays to both queer and straight crowds. And, like any stand-up routine, the material can offend in all kinds of unexpected places.
"When it’s your own material, and when people think of it as stand-up, there’s more pressure," says Cuckow. "The purpose of it is to probe a little deeper and get perspective, to explore why one person can laugh and another one can’t."
Cuckow’s great at charming his audiences while keeping his eye on the main focus, which is that, ultimately, we’re all human.
"Sexuality for me isn’t gay or straight," he says, "but the world often sees things that way, and I see that as funny because all people are different. True, straight people don’t get lumped together and when you’re gay, that’s what you’re reduced to. But I don’t like being put in any specific category – sexuality is a lot more complicated than that. I say we limit it to smart or dumb – it makes a lot more sense." |
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