The Art of Being Still.

The Art of Being Still.
Written and directed by Steven Dawson. Out Cast Theatre. Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Melbourne, until July 17.

In the early 1990s, when I first saw The Art of Being Still, I can remember being quite surprised that a play about the immense personal tragedy caused by the HIV/AIDS pandemic could hardly bring itself to mention the actual circumstances of the ‘absent friend’s’ death. I remember having a large number of conversations with people about this ‘notion of invisibility’ at the time. ‘The time’ in question, if you weren’t there, was represented by constant funerals, immense sadness, fear, misinformation, a desperate hunger for information about ways men who have sex with men could avoid exposure to HIV, apprehension, political activism of the highest order, traffic and tram-stopping annual candlelight vigils, and both quiet and monumental support: from expected and some entirely unexpected sources.

Perhaps, it was argued, the play didn’t need to actually refer to the psychological and clinical torment that was confronting the, mostly gay male, population. William Hoffman’s As Is (1985), Larry Kramer’s seething The Normal Heart (1985) and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (1991) were each bringing rigorous and unique cross-examinations of the impact of HIV/AIDS to the American stage. (Australian audiences would not see a production of Angels in America until 1994, when the Melbourne Theatre Company staged Part 1: Millennium Approaches in their now abandoned Russell Street Theatre.)

Today, The Art of Being Still remains a determinedly apolitical piece of gay-centric theatre concerned with a group of stereotypically gay men (the suit, the leather queens, the flight attendant, etc) who meet every Monday night to go out for dinner – or at least did, until the earnest Alan (Brett Whittingham) loses his partner Michael (Nick Wyatt) to an AIDS-related illness. Alan has spent months grieving his considerable loss, until best friend Phillip (Adam Ford) decides that it’s time for the group to reunite in the hope that the familiar camaraderie will help Alan realise that he has a future – even one without Michael.

Though it owes a significant debt to Mart Crowley’s ground-breaking The Boys In The Band (which debuted off-Broadway before being adapted for the screen in 1970), The Art of Being Still is a witty, waspish, big-heartedly entertaining play that offers this outstanding new cast a wealth of opportunities to act their hearts out. This production, like the first one, whips along at a great pace – lead by Tim Nolan’s entertaining über-Queen ‘Dougie’, Mr Whittingham’s measured ‘Alan’ and Nathan Butler’s sweet and good-natured ‘trolley-dolly’ ‘Gerald’. (The scene where Gerald decides that he’s ‘not going to take it anymore’ is still the comedic highpoint.) Lee Threadgold as the leather-clad ‘Barry’ and David Carroll as ‘David’ bring the sparring ex-boyfriend dynamic to life perfectly. Their final exit from the stage together is still wonderfully fulfilling.

When Dawson’s loveable rogues aren’t firing off painfully accurate, razor-sharp and viciously barbed insults, they find themselves in the, frankly, more interesting territory of the value of friendship. Alan’s final scene with Phillip is beautifully written and acted, and Mr Wyatt delivers a marvelously under-stated performance as the wide-eyed young boy from the country, Colin (Mr Wyatt doubles as ‘Colin’ and ‘Michael’).

The final scene, the details of which I won’t reveal here, still manages to surprise and delight (as it did the first time). Here, Dawson focuses on the purest of hope for a future – and, quite potently, Alan’s belief in the value of the time he shared ‘Michael’, and how the essence of that connection will continue to inform his belief in the importance of having someone in your life to love – unconditionally. The wonderfully surprising final scene remains the play’s masterstroke – and its optimism and bewildering hopefulness is Dawson at his best. It is also beautifully realised in this new production.

At worst, The Art of Being Still represents how much and how little has changed for a community decimated by the most profound and deadly health crisis of our generation. At its best, it provides the opportunity for Out Cast Theatre – Australia’s “only ongoing gay theatre company”– the chance to really shine. And they do.

Geoffrey Williams

Pictured (left to right): Tim Nolan, Nathan Butler and David Carroll in The Art of Being Still.
 

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