Dangerfield Park

Dangerfield Park and Angel Gear are companion pieces playing in repertory during October and early November.

In fact, Dangerfield Park is a much more pleasant and engrossing play than Angel Gear. The playwright examines the risks involved by gay men who seek sex partners in ‘beats’ at night. Hence danger field! A group of six gay men share a unit near a pleasant suburban wooded park. One goes into the ‘beat’, meets an attractive man who might be gay, and upsets his contact after which all his share companions learn is that he was attacked and is left critically injured.

What works well is how Swenson examines all this objectively within the current legal parameters. In particular, the plot moves toward the court case. At this stage it almost becomes a documentary when the suspected attacker’s defence lawyers invoke the ‘gay panic defence’. Swenson obviously did a great deal of research, and quotes different stages of the development of the law.

However, what engages us is the effect this physical attack has on the lifestyle of the friends. It is a sterling piece of theatre, well co-directed by the playwright and Brian Lucas, for the cast of six (Nick Barclay – Kieren/Reyer; Christos Mourtzakais - Marc; Brian Lucis – Otis; Zachary Boulton; Sven Swenson – Sholto; Michael Deed – Tim).

Jay McKee

Photographer: Rebecca Taylor.