Camping Intense

On the eve of his Cabaret Festival show, and a recording of his musical, Jamie Burgess talks to Coral Drouyn about being Gay, Musical Theatre, trying to change perceptions and make a living at the same time.

No-one would deny that Jamie’s Musical from the Midsumma Festival “Butch Masters – Man of Destiny” is perhaps the campest offering we have seen in many years, but Jamie – a deep thinker behind the façade of wit – is unapologetic.

“I never intended this show to be solely for a gay audience,” he tells me, “I wanted it to be for everyone. But we can’t expect ‘straights’ to understand what it is like to live in their world if you’re Gay – and that’s how the premise came about.”

He turned the world we know on its head. “Butch Masters – the only straight man in a gay world - has to battle not fitting in, being different, and virtually hunted for the threat he poses,” Jamie explains.

The book of the show was savaged by some, but most agreed that the songs were good, and music is Jamie’s forte.

“I’m not making excuses,” Jamie says with disarming honesty. “The book was a product of being rushed and working in a vacuum. I had no-one to provide feedback and there simply wasn’t time in the limited rehearsal period. I have reworked it and admit it wasn’t up to standard and perhaps it never will be in some people’s eyes, and that’s their opinion, but at least I offer some explanations.”

That’s part of the reason why he is re-assembling most of his original Butch Masters cast for two performances on Sunday July 3^rd at Chapel off Chapel, where they will do a live recording of the show.

“If the songs are the strongest element, then getting them on CD means I have a showcase and maybe that will help me move forward.”

Jamie is one of a growing number of artists forced to create their own Independent companies, unable to pay artists because they receive no support whatsoever.

“I had quite substantial “name’ artists involved at the outset,” he explains, “but they were offered other shows that were actually paying them – and there’s no way to counter that. You can say it’s a co-operative and we all share the profits, but the truth is, in almost every Indie production, there are no profits. And, unless you are part of a fairly elite clique, there’s no support of any kind. But I keep on keeping on.”

Jamie moved to Australia from New Zealand some years ago. “I wanted to write Musical Theatre and it seemed the opportunities would be greater here. I knew it would be hard – it always is – but I never thought it would be this hard. It costs money to develop and workshop any musical, but access to any kind of development funding seems to be limited to a quite elite clique. A recent Australian Musical had its world premiere after five years of development and a lot of financial support and still didn’t manage to get it right.”

Fortunately Jamie is an accomplished Cabaret performer and you can see his new show “Man Cave” when it kicks off at Chapel off Chapel tomorrow night (June 21^st, 7.30pm). He’s also a talented Barista – as his coffee loving friends will tell you.

“Good coffee is one of life’s essentials,” he insists.

I’m talking to Jamie just a few days after the Orlando tragedy, and he is deeply saddened by the horror.

“I grew up in a very religious family,” he tells me, “and I truly believed that God could fix anything, including me being gay. So I waited for God to change me – I actually prayed for it when I was younger – but it didn’t happen, and eventually I had to accept that “God” had his mind on bigger things and this was how I was meant to be, and I’d better be proud of it or I would have a miserable life.”

So, did Jamie reject religion completely?

“Organised religion, yes. It seems to me that it is all about rules and control and has little to do with a higher power. When any religion can teach hatred towards anyone who is different, that cannot possibly be a good thing. I still believe in a higher power, but I am responsible for who I am.”

I pose the suggestion that the division between “Gays” and “Straights” may be counter-productive and perpetuate the “them” and “us” mentality and drawing a line in the sand. Wouldn’t it be better to stop the divide and just accept that we are all just people, part of the human race?

“Yes, of course it would,” Jamie agrees. “We don’t want to be seen as being different, except in the sense of every human being different, unique. But we’re a long way from that. First of all we have to just be accepted as having the RIGHT to be different – and to be defined by how we act, what we feel, rather than just our sexuality. And we’re still a long way from that. But I’m working on it.”

Butch Masters in Concert is at Chapel off Chapel for two shows on Sunday 3^rd July at 4pm and 8pm.

Man Cave is at Chapel off Chapel on June 21^st.