Reflecting Theatre Attitudes of Depiction of Gay Relationships in Society Throughout the 20th and the 21st Century

Plays about homosexuality are everything the world needs to give gay people a voice and express their opinions, but are they depicted on stage correctly? Everyone can have an opinion on homosexual people, but some opinions don’t always need to be heard or expressed. Producing a play about homosexual people and couples can come with many mixed opinions. The time period the play comes out can have a big impact. Milton Shulman, in 1993, had a very controversial opinion about plays based on homosexual people. In the Evening Standard he published an article headed 'Stop the Plague of Pink Plays', Shulman was standing by a very old tradition and was refusing to leave it behind in the past. He had a strong opinion on plays about homosexual people by calling gay-themed theatre the “gay plague” which caught everybody’s attention and were opening eyes. Some people were on board with his outgoing opinions and some were nowhere near it. By having these strong opinions, he offended the majority of the LGBTQ+ community. Personally, I do not stand by his opinion at all as there are many plays in the community that lets everyone know about the issues homosexuals had to face such as: The AIDS crisis and homophobia in friendships and families. There are a number of plays that have been produced that revolve around homosexuality. They are also set in various time periods from 1950 to 1990 but the depiction of homosexuality in some plays is being ventured in different ways to reflect what was happening in reality at the time the play was set and how that may affect the characters at the time and how they cope with it and also how others around them react. There are some major contrasts in the development of relationships as they go from suicide and tragic endings to happy ever after, and these are depicted on stage through various plays.

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ written by Tennessee Williams was first performed in March 1955 at the Morosco Theatre in New York. The play is set in Mississippi 1950s and centers on Big Daddy, a rich cotton plantation owner, and his scheming mendacious family. His son, Brick, is an alcoholic who has become impotent because his wife, Maggie ‘The Cat’, once seduced his best friend, Skipper. Maggie desperately wants to produce an heir for Big Daddy's fortune; the play ends with her attempt to arouse Brick's sexual interest. Throughout the play, tension rises between the Pollitt family members especially Brick and Maggie’s relationship as it falls apart. The couple doesn’t have any children and there are indications that Brick doesn’t want an intimate relationship. Skipper, Brick's childhood friend whom he seems to have feelings for but doesn’t seem to return the feeling, proves his masculinity by making moves on Maggie. Before the events of the play Skipper took his own life causing Brick to withdraw from Maggie and turn to alcohol. During the period the play was set in Dell Martin, Phyllis Lyon, and six other women founded “Daughters of Bilitis” which was the first national lesbian rights group in San Francisco. In 1954, the McCarthy hearings include the gay-baiting (the incitement or exploitation of anti-homosexual sentiment) of Wisconsin senator, Joseph McCarthy, Roy Cohn, and Attorney Jack Welch before a national television audience. This is relevant to the play as during the time the play was set, being gay was not an easy option, as it was unheard of to be gay. The play itself struck up many opinions towards it. The Guardian reports that some people thought the exploration of homosexuality went “too far” but other people didn’t think it went far enough. “The critic Eric Bentley, writing in the New Republic, thought Williams ducked the issue by not exploring further Brick's real nature.” In Britain, the whole subject was too much for Lord Chamberlain, who then had the right to forbid plays a license for public performance. It is embarrassing to think that in 1958 when Peter Hall staged the British premiere of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, audiences had to go through the ludicrous fiction of paying to join a private members' club. The play was revived in 2017 directed by Benedict Andrews, National Theatre, which stirred up a few opinions for example: Michael Billington from The Guardian wrote a review rating the production and giving it three stars and expressing “while Williams’s study of the conflict between truth and illusion may be timeless, it works best when rooted in the detailed realism of the American South in the 1950s.” The opinion I have on this revival is the period the director, Benedict Andrews, decided on seemed to be the present day, as the period the original production was set in matched the time period it was first performed in. When the production has first performed the depiction of attitudes to LGBTQ+ was relevant at the time. When the production was revived the issues that were explored don’t seem so relevant to the current time period. The society we live in now is much more understanding towards the LGBTQ+ community and is much more supportive. Our society has changed drastically compared to what it used to be like in the 50s. In our current society, Brick wouldn’t have had such a hard time trying to hide the fact that he might be gay, and he might not have concluded to have drinking problems.

‘Neaptide’, was first performed at the Cottesloe National Theatre, London, in 1986. ‘Neaptide’ by Sarah Daniels is a story that focuses on custody battles, sexual identity, and gender politics, framed around the ancient myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Claire teaches history at a local school where two teenage girls have come out. Their principal, Bea Grimble, is not overly impressed about this action and aims to have the two of them expelled. Claire, who was hiding the fact that she is homosexual and risking her job, she speaks up on behalf of the two girls after she catches them kissing. Claire is also fighting her ex-husband Lawrence for custody of their daughter, the smart, advanced, and happy Poppy. All around Claire’s tough attitudes are challenged as she must decide whether to try to maintain a position of honesty, a battle of hypocrisy, within the bounds of the law or without. When the production was first performed in 1986 Lyon suggests looking at it “from our perspective now, where gay adoption is increasingly common, and you have those normalized rights”, both the casual, everyday homophobia and the discrimination against lesbian women within it may shock audiences today due to the fact we are more supportive toward the LGBTQ+ community and have a better understanding toward the subject and how we are supporting the younger generation to open up about it but also recognise that it is a very natural matter and is very common in workplaces allowing us to remind ourselves how far we’ve come. Neaptide is one of the few productions focused the on same-sex relationships between women and Lyons agrees that this is true because there is simply less of a collection of texts to draw on. “It’s about the gradual breaking down of barriers. Gay men are a minority group – but they are still white men.” This is evidence that there are few plays about gay men and the struggles they are forced to face but this also proves that there are very few productions based around a homosexual woman and their struggles which makes this production interesting as it depicts an intimate relationship between women and young girls. The girls in this are unaware of the actions they have committed and are not thinking about how big of a deal this if for them and the negativity they are facing and the consequences they both will face, this contrasts with Claire being homosexual as she is aware of the kind of uproar it could create and understands that her career may me in danger which is forcing her to keep her feelings to herself. This is different as it is a play about homosexual women and isn’t that common. It allows audience members to witness the struggle women can face which is unfair and should be a thing to embrace and support.

‘Angels in America’, first performed at the Mark Taper Forum in 1991 written by Tony Kushner focuses on the stories of two troubled couples, one being gay and another being straight. Louis Ironson and his partner Prior Walter and lawyer Joe, who is also attracted to men and who isn’t ‘out’ yet but has a wife Harper. After the funeral of Louis’s grandma, Prior breaks the news to Louis about contracting AIDS resulting in Louis to panic. It begins with a funeral and ends with a plea for life. Prior Walter knows he is dying of AIDS. 'Look at the wine-dark kiss of the Angel of death,' he says, emphasis as he discovers the black lesion on his skin. His lover, Louis, cannot cope with the discovery. “I believe in the Hegelian sense of progress,' he mutters. Illness is not part of the plan. The show is an eight-hour production which is split into two sections with many intervals. The Guardian reviewed the play starring Andrew Garfield, saying “Some astonishing performances from a very good cast. But the prime impression is of Kushner’s conviction that, although we live in dark times where both God and Marx are dead, there is always hope in the instinct for survival and the tenacity of the human spirit.” Every day average people are also recognizing not only how amazing the show is but are also recognizing the themes and messages of love and the AIDS crisis. “A real triumph,” says the Daily Express, proving that the show was a great achievement and giving gay people the justice, they deserve, proving that if this is a success there are so many more successes waiting to happen within the community. At the time that this play was set doctors identify the first cases of what they termed “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency” soon the disease’s name got changed to “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome” which is highly relatable to the play's central story of Priors journey from the diagnosis of his AIDS to the end of his journey.

Another play that also focuses on the AIDS crisis is ‘The Normal Heart’ by Larry Kramer which opened at the Public Theatre in New York City, on April 21, 1985. In the summer of 1981, Ned Weeks visits Dr. Emma Brookner, who is treating nearly all the homosexual men in New York overwhelmed with rare, immune system-related diseases. Brookner has heard of Ned and his “big mouth.” She is looking for a homosexual man to lead in this new crisis, she urges him to express his anger toward those in power and convince gay men to stop getting involved in sexual activity as she believes the disease is being spread through sex. Ned begins to act on it and explores the failure of The New York Times to cover the AIDS crisis. By doing this he meets a gay reporter, Felix Turner, to who he becomes immediately attracted. A key relationship in the play is between Ned and his brother Ben who is a lawyer. Ned is impatient with his brother’s reluctance to help the organization Ned has formed in response to the epidemic, it is clear what Ned wants most from Ben is unconditional love and acceptance. These two plays relate to the events that were happening during the times they were both sets. The two plays both give an insight into how men coped with AIDS and the struggle their friends and families faced during these times. They also give the audience an understanding of how hard it is to live with AIDS and also give and create a lasting image for average people who lived with it and the battle they faced.

‘Beautiful Thing’ written by Jonathan Harvey was first performed in 1993. It is about Sixteen-year-old Jaime who lives with his mum Sandra and boyfriend who is younger than her in a three-floored block of flats in Thamesmead, London. Living next door is loud mouth Leah, who has been expelled from school and spends her days listening to Mama Cass. And on the other side is Ste who is also sixteen. His father’s anger sometimes drives him to hide out at Jaime and Sandra’s flat, spending the night there to escape being beaten. Ste and Jaime start off top-and-tailing in Jaime’s bed as there’s nowhere else to sleep. Harvey unfolds their awkward relationship with delicacy and also with joy. During the 1990s the age of consent for homosexual males was 21 in the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, it was then lowered to 18 in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, it then got lowered to the age of 16 in England and Scotland in the Sexual Offences Act of 2000. So, at the time the play was set in consent was 18 causing the boys' relationship to have some complications. A review from The Guardian based on the revival said that the number of gay couples in the audience is living proof to how much has changed as at the time the play was set Margaret Thatcher enforced section 28. Section 28 meant LGBT+ groups around the world were forced to break up and LGBT+ literature was off the shelves in libraries and stores. It also meant teachers in schools were banned from teaching students about sex education between a homosexual couple, this was branded as promoting homosexuality. Section 28 was implemented in 1988 and was then abolished in 2003 after the local Government Bill received Royal Assent. Then Jonathan Harvey's gay teenage love story was first shown at the Bush Theatre, London, in 1993. This is showing that plays about gay couples, especially teenage couples, are giving justice to the people that are afraid to speak out about their fears and the issues they face. There are very few reviews saying its bad or that it shouldn’t have been released or be performed as some reviews are “This generous, optimistic play remains a beautiful thing” and “A terrific and gusty revival” proving that it was a hit and that it has a purpose and a point. This is one of the plays that proves that we need more plays that can give gay people the justice they deserve. The play ends with a positive upbeat ending as it shows the two boys slowly dancing on the landing of their flats who are then watched by Jamie’s mum Sandra and their neighbor Leah who join the two boys dancing. The ending to this play provides closure to those who are worried about “coming out” by showing the acceptance they get at the end of the play giving a positive outlook for others. The ending of this play is very uplifting as it is a major contrast to ‘Cat on A Hot Tin Roof’. This ending is full of hope and happily ever after and shows that being in a homosexual relationship is okay and that it can end up being a good thing and can be accepted but in ‘Cat on A Hot Tin Roof’ it is drastically different as Brick plunges himself into drinking constantly and ends up having no hope in his beliefs for the future as he feels he can’t ‘come out’ contrasting with Beautiful thing as it is about ‘coming out’.

Overall relationships are depicted in different ways allowing the audience to understand how it was to be in a homosexual relationship during the period the play was set in and to see how being homosexual was reacted to at the time. Through the timeline of plays, you can see very clear contrasts in relationships between partners and families. Also, there is evidence of how successful plays about homosexuals are, for example, “The play must be seen by anyone who truly cares about the human condition.” These are the types of plays that need to be shown more or more and need to be written for the society we are living in now, the LGBTQ+ community is shining so bright right now but not in the theatre. Therefore, we need to see more plays be written about gay people/couples.

References

1. Michael Arditti, 1999. Friday book: The influential role performed by pink plays [online] Available at: [Accessed 3 January 2019]
2. Michael Billington, 2012. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Tennessee Williams’s southern discomfort [online] Available at: [Accessed 4 February]
3. Michael Billington, 2017. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof review- Sienna Miller and Jack O’Connell rattle their gilded cage [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 April 2019]
4. Holly Williams, 2017. The five plays that changed the world [online] Available at: [Accessed 7 January 2019]
5. Holly Williams, 2017. The five plays that changed the world [online] Available at: [Accessed 7January 2019]
6. Sarah Crompton, 2017. Review: Angels in America (National Theatre) [online] Available at: [Accessed 4 February 2019]
7. Michael Billington, 2017. Angels in America review – Garfield and Lane excel in Kushner’s surreal epic [online] Available at: [Accessed 5 January 2019]
8. National Theatre, 2017, Angels in America [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 December 2018]
9. GSAFE, 2018. A Timeline of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in the United States [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 28 January 2019]
10. Stonewall Youth, 2015. Legal equality [online] Available at: [Accessed 5 February 2019]
11. Lyn Gardner, 2013. Beautiful thing- review [online] Available at: [Accessed 3 January 2019]
12. Joe Sommerland, 2018. Section 28: what was Margret Thatcher’s controversial law and how did it affect the lives of LGBTQ+ people? [online] Available at: [ Accessed 5 April 2019]
13. BBC News, 2003. Section 28 to be repealed [online] Available at: [Accessed 5 April 2019]

Bibliography

1. BBC News, 2003. Section 28 to be repealed [online] Available at: [Accessed 5 April 2019]
2. GSAFE, 2018. A Timeline of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in the United States [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 28 January 2019]
3. Holly Williams, 2017. The five plays that changed the world [online] Available at: [Accessed 7 January 2019]
4. Joe Sommerland, 2018. Section 28: what was Margret Thatcher’s controversial law and how did it affect the lives of LGBTQ+ people? [online] Available at: [ Accessed 5 April 2019]
5. Lyn Gardner, 2013. Beautiful thing- review [online] Available at: [Accessed 3 January 2019]
6. Michael Arditti, 1999. Friday book: The influential role performed by pink plays [online] Available at: [Accessed 3 January 2019]
7. Michael Billington, 2012. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Tennessee Williams’s southern discomfort [online] Available at: [Accessed 4 February]
8. Michael Billington, 2017. Angels in America review – Garfield and Lane excel in Kushner’s surreal epic [online] Available at: [Accessed 5 January 2019]
9. Michael Billington, 2017. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof review- Sienna Miller and Jack O’Connell rattle their gilded cage [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 April 2019]
10. National Theatre, 2017, Angels in America [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 December 2018]
11. Sarah Crompton, 2017. Review: Angels in America (National Theatre) [online] Available at: [Accessed 4 February 2019]
12. Stonewall Youth, 2015. Legal equality [online] Available at: [Accessed 5 February 2019]