THEATRE OUTING
by Richard Solash
Oscar Wilde holding a green carnation in
his mouth is a fitting and ironic logo for the Dublin
Gay Theatre Festival. The artificially dyed flowers were
worn by fin-de-siècle gays as a secret sign of
their sexual preference, and it isn't a stretch to imagine
the playwright, perhaps Dublin's most famously “out”
native son, depleting the symbol of all its subtlety with
a saucy twirl in his teeth. Between the 5th and the 18th
of May, the Irish capital lives up to that standard of
openness on the stage. This year's event promises to be
the best yet, with ten major city venues hosting 35 productions,
each either written by a gay author, exploring gay themes,
or of particular relevance to the GLBT community. Companies
hailing from Italy to South Africa, Canada to Brazil,
will appear alongside Irish troupes in a flurry of comedy,
drama, musical theatre, and world premieres. It's enough
to have made the Importance of Being Earnest author, shall
we say, proud. www.gaytheatre.ie
[Published:
May, 2008]
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