THE FAGGOTS AND THEIR FRIENDS BETWEEN REVOLUTIONS - REVIEW

The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions is presented at the HOME Theatre, Manchester as part of Manchester International Festival 2023. The reclamation of the F slur is intended not to be provocative, but deliberate, loving, and joyful – this review will use it in the same way.

Based on the 1977 book of the same name by Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta, The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions is part history, part fantasy, and part manifesto. With direction from Ted Huffman and music from Philip Venables, it describes the revolutions: the revolution of civilisation that created the patriarchy, the revolution of industrialisation that sanitised and commodified us to work better under capitalism, and the revolution that’s yet to come.

The play follows conventions of post-modern theatre with its nameless characters and fable-like story, but its meld of music, dance, and opera transcends the form into something magical. There are 15 performers on stage, all working together in a symphonic blend of movement, the eye can’t afford to settle on one actor for too long. No one gets drowned on HOME’s huge, almost bare stage either – Huffman’s direction gives everyone precisely enough to do without the space feeling too busy.

Extracts from the novel are taken and used as text or lyrics, some of which, like the men obsessed with their papers, are powerful enough to inspire whole scenes. The play, like the novel, tells us of the fictional (but recognisable) world of Ramrod, where Men oppress the Faggots and their Friends. Their friends are named women, women-loving-women, the poor, those with different skin colours, those from other places, fairies, et cetera. Essentially, anyone that isn’t a straight, white, cis, able-bodied man.

Particular highlights are the performances from Yandass and Kit Green. It’s hard to say which part of Yandass’s performance is stronger – her incredible dance or the power behind her rousing monologues. She vibrates the stage every time she’s in focus, while Green is the beating heart that guides us through the play. Her presence is calming, and charismatic – not every performer can lead an audience through singing a song about the insane having keys to their own asylum, but Green does so with grace and electrical stage presence.

Plays like The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions don’t come around all that often. Where most political plays stay safe and essentially tell us what we already know like it’s new and revolutionary (specifically the: “Nurses shouldn’t need to use food banks” line in No Pay? No Way! Last month at the Royal Exchange – everyone in the room agrees with you. ‘Poverty is bad’ is not a political statement), The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions assumes that each member of the audience is either a Faggot or one of their Friends and treats us as we understand their plight. It doesn’t baby you, or try and explain what it’s like, it knows that you get it and sees you as one of their own. Even without the singalong, seeing this show is truly a unifying experience between the cast and the audience.

The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions runs at the London South Bank Centre 25th – 28th January 2024!

{🎟 AD: PR Invite – Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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