Resistance

What's your poison? Tom of Finland, or Boy George? Madonna, or Marilyn? Top, or bottom? There have been so many recent dramas of late, focussing on eighties' queer culture: The Line of Beauty, Pride, Love Song to Lavender Menace, and It's A Sin, among others. It's the latter that Shaper/Caper's “Small Town Boys” most resembles, but it's rooted in a very Scottish queer club culture.

Performance

Shaper/Caper: “Small Town Boys”

Place

Polo Lounge, Glasgow, Scotland, October 9, 2024

Words

Lorna Irvine

Shaper/Caper's “Small Town Boys.” Photograph by Maria Falconer

As with the beautiful Bronski Beat song from which it (almost) takes its name, Dundee- based choreographer Thomas Small found his tribe, a new family if you will, in the gay scene. So too does his main character, portrayed with grit and vulnerability by Ben Knapper, who leaves a hostile home environment and the homophobic bullying of the school yard, for a big city.

To that end, queer clubs become a sacred space. The elfin DJ, Alex McCrossan oozing charisma with their blond pixie crop, black evening gloves and false eyelashes, is like an alternative preacher for the lost, and divine intervention comes in the form of Divine's “Shoot Your Shot.” McCrossan leads the dancers in a subversive congregation of belonging, through ecstatic dancing and self-expression. There is a slinky leather daddy, and graceful twinks. Of course, Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s peerless “Relax” and Man 2 Man/Man Parrish's “Male Stripper” get suitably raunchy homages.

It has to be said, as a theatre piece it's not always sure-footed. Characterisation isn't strong, with the narrative of the boy's trajectory in clubland somewhat sidelined by the collective's experiences. But as a pure dance show, it's absolutely superb. Small's choreography is gorgeous, fusing the looseness and free expression of club dance floor with the tight discipline of ballet. Knapper's solos are wildly impressive, acrobatic and elegantly rendered around the hi-NRG pulsing of the playlist. Small has community dancers joining his professional ensemble, which brings a real vitality to the dancefloor. It's thrilling seeing dancers up close, high kicking or grinding just inches away from you. The dancers are frenetic, seemingly inexhaustible.

There are some wildly inventive pieces of staging. One scene, emulating Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds artwork has the dancers caressing blown-up condoms, reinforcing safe sex, while underlining human fragility. Another is a moment where dancers furtively move with loo doors, referencing both cottaging and the metaphor of doors being slammed in faces.

Shaper/Caper's “Small Town Boys.” Photograph by Maria Falconer

But the most effective segments arise in elegiac slow-motion, creating a dreamlike state as AIDS takes the lives of some of the friends, and prime minister Margaret Thatcher espouses hateful rhetoric about “traditional values,” and brings forward her anti-LGBT law Section 28, which banned “the promotion of homosexuality.” Bodies rise, held aloft like gods, hoisted up by the clubbers, and fall, crashing to the ground, where they are tragically whisked off in hospital beds.

Counter to this is a furious section referencing ACT UP, the grassroots collective of campaigners who worked together to end the AIDS epidemic and create awareness in order to break the stigmatisation. Thatcher is pastiched as a grotesque, one part Leigh Bowery, one part dragon lady in melted make-up, screeching invective at the protesters.

In the main, this is dance as an act of political liberation and resistance, a tribute to the liberation found in clubs, and those who battled against a reactionary British government who sought to deny the very existence of LGBTQ people. In dance, and queer spaces, escapism was itself an act of subversion. Thomas Small has created a sexy, heartfelt and moving homage to queer pioneers who paved the way for current mainstream media acceptance that we witness today—from high street queer clubs, to the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise. But with anti-trans campaigners gaining ground, we've still a long way to go.

Lorna Irvine

Based in Glasgow, Lorna was delightfully corrupted by the work of Michael Clark in her early teens, and has never looked back. Passionate about dance, music, and theatre she writes regularly for the List, Across the Arts and Exeunt. She also wrote on dance, drama and whatever particular obsession she had that week for the Shimmy, the Skinny and TLG and has contributed to Mslexia, TYCI and the Vile Blog.

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