Dream Man

Jimmy Shaw is an American actor performing in James Carroll Pickett's one-man drama “Dream Man”, directed by Michael Kearns. The main character, Christopher, is a gay fantasy telephone sex host and the show takes place in one hour of real time, which we share with him.

Mariae Smiarowska: How did you manage to make a gay show universal?

Jimmy Shaw: Well, I think James Carroll Pickett's play has always been universal, really it is just a question of the audience being ready to identify with his beautiful story. I think we have found audiences in all places... Madrid, Hollywood, Dublin, and now here, that immediately engage with Christopher's (the Dream Man) soul and struggle and search for meaning and love. In 1985, when the play premiered, the audiences were primarily gay. The play and its thrust have not changed since then. More diverse audiences now tie in to what really is a universal story. It's universal because it is about loneliness and surviving that. It's about not giving up the fight, continuing to find a way to keep your dreams alive. Christopher does that with his callers.

At its root, the play is about people who bear witness to our lives. People who “knew you when”... the people who link you to your past. Audiences like Christopher because he's not tragic. Delusional , perhaps, but strong and doesn't feel sorry for himself. He does feel for other people, however, and that's what is heroic in this unlikely of unlikely characters. In that way, he's similar to a Tennessee Williams heroine. Dream man is a superstar poet, an improviser. He plays with language, loves his job, tries to help people, whilst remaining funny and sardonic about it.

Why does Dream Man Exist?

The play arose during the 80's and the AIDS epidemic, which created a great fear of intimacy. But the play is more revelant than ever today. In the new virtual world of the internet, we have chat rooms, internet porn, and dating sites where we can choose our perfect partner. So anything is possible, from anonymous hook-ups online to searching for the perfect profile, for our ideal person. That cultural construct of an ideal partner is very poignant. We hope to find the perfect other, who is there to save us, so we'll never be alone again. We all want to be loved on our own terms and this dream person is the person who we all hope isn't going to leave us alone at the end.

Has the potential lonliness of being a solo performer at the Fringe affected your performance?

No, not really. Edinburgh is magical, and the festival can be challenging in many ways, but Pickett's play holds up for me, it's so strong, and the character is fairly embedded in my heart at this point. And really I'm not that actor who believes in letting other elements color the character or the playwright's intention or message. It's the same exquisite aria for me no matter where it takes me, no matter where I may be.

Is the show a good window into the gay world?
It can be, I guess. It is so universal, though, that I hadn't given that much thought ever. I will say that he (Christopher) is truly unapologetic in every way, and conflicted as we all are. He feels love quite deeply underneath all his bravura and I think that is something we can all relate to, or want to relate to, on a very visceral level.

Have attitudes changes since the play was written?Oh God! Wow. Er...that is actually something I do think of often, and kind of goes hand in hand with your last question. Yes and No, right? I read an article in the New York Times not long ago that I found provocative. It spoke of how gay themed plays or plays with gay characters now tend to not be as political, not as activistic, not related to AIDS, not as tragic. And that now theatre with gay characters tends to have characters that are dealing with more quotidian issues such as a same sex couple not sharing the same religion. It implied that today's gay characters in the theatre experience being gay as a non-event.

And I feel that is true. And unfortunate. Being gay IS an event. The world is still largely homophobic. I think we've relaxed as theatre goers, in this regard, that we think we are somehow past all of it. I understand the desire to be done with the pain and the discrimination and the hate, but we are not there yet, and I don't think we should be running away from outspoken, honest, brave voices in the theatre just so we can be more comfortable. As Michael has said, theatre going should not be comforting, that Dream Man for example is nothing if not flamboyantly theatrical, bombastic, confrontive, seductive and wild. And I just hope that audiences are still hungry for that type of writing and direction and characters as I think we used to be not so long ago.