StarsStarsStarsStarsStars

The Homosexuals, or ‘Faggots’

Declan Greene’s latest comedy – a farce about political correctness and contemporary gay life – is slightly off-kilter but still very entertaining.
[This is archived content and may not display in the originally intended format.]

Simon Burke and Lincoln Younes in The Homosexuals, or ‘Faggots’. Photo by Brett Boardman.

Despite the cast’s best efforts there’s something a little unbalanced in this new Griffin/Malthouse co-production, a comedy about outrage culture and contemporary gay life which premiered in Melbourne this week. Energy levels in Declan Greene’s exuberant farce are initially slow to build, and while the middle section of the work sees comedic sparks flying, a sudden shift of emotional gears late in the piece, which transposes sincerity for flippancy, feels forced and awkward.

In a short prologue, we’re introduced to Warren (Simon Burke), editor of queer news website The Daily Bulge and his younger husband Kim (Simon Corfield), an academic.

Warren is the sort of misogynistic, middle class gay man who can complain about homophobia one moment and refer to someone as a ‘stupid dyke’ the next; he probably thinks ‘intersectional’ is either a sexual position or an architectural term used to describe the sort of minimal, split-level apartment he and his partner share. The highly-strung Kim teaches gender studies at university, and is all too aware how easy it is to pillory someone in this social media age.

Entitled and quick to claim victim status, the play opens with the pair being shocked by the unusual name of a British delicacy at a local pub. They launch an on-line petition to have the ‘homophobic pub’ shut down, after which we jump forward one year, to the night of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. Not surprisingly, fireworks ensue, though not the sort the couple are expecting.

Warren is attempting to seduce a handsome young heterosexual model, Lucacz (Lincoln Younes) behind Kim’s back, while also preparing for a difficult interview with trans activist and Twitter warrior Bae Bae (Mama Alto). The presence of Diana (Genevieve Lemon) Warren’s foul-mouthed transgender best friend complicates proceedings, as does a classic case of mistaken identity involving a sous-chef turned ice addict who is Bae Bae’s spitting image, two boxes of props and tasteless costumes, and a large baggie of cocaine.

There are several problems with The Homosexuals, or ‘Faggots’ which are never quite resolved. The stakes should feel higher; one never quite feels convinced that any of the characters’ lives or reputations will be ruined should events not go according to plan. This being a farce, everyone’s ambitions are quickly upended, but in its present state the production lacks the precise timing required to make such farcical scenes scintillate. Diana’s rare moment of truth late in the piece also feels at odds with previous scenes, but like the issues of timing, this aspect should play more smoothly by the time the production transfers to Sydney.

Like any new play, The Homosexuals, or ‘Faggots’ needs time to settle in; even so, some sections of the work are terrifically funny, with Mama Alto’s performance as the drug-addled thief Pam a particular highlight. Simon Burke’s Warren also impresses. Marg Horwell’s set is also a thing of beauty, though disparities between the cavernous Merlyn Theatre at the Malthouse and Griffin’s intimate theatre in Darlinghurst, where the production will next reside, resulted in a number of lines being lost on opening night, with actors forced to play to one side of the room or the other. Nor does Greene’s script go quite as far as it could; there’s never any real risk of causing offence or scandal, though a sequence which reframes Pam’s racism through an academic prism is very funny indeed.

The overall impression is of a play that’s not quite fully cooked. Sydney audiences will probably find it more to their taste, as by then the production should have intensified its textures and piquancy.

3 ½ stars out of 5

The Homosexuals, or ‘Faggots’
By Declan Greene
A Malthouse/Griffin co-production
Direction: Lee Lewis
Set & Costume Design: Marg Horwell
Lighting Design: Trent Suidgeest
Sound Design & Composition: Steve Toulmin
Cast: Mama Alto, Simon Burke, Simon Corfield, Genevieve Lemon, Lincoln Younes

Malthouse Theatre, Southbank
17 February – 12 March 2017

SBW Stables Theatre, Darlinghurst
17 March – 29 April 2017

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts