Sex and Sexuality

“I’ve been reading a lot of books about the process of civil partnerships,” says Johnny McKnight, the writer and performer behind Little Johnny’s Big Gay Wedding. “I have to be honest: it’s all terribly traditional and rather ‘straight’ and boring. I’m chucking those books in the bin. Where’s the campery? The sing-alongs? The wedding dresses? My wedding will be a Gay Wedding, getting all my family and friends in one room. There will be nothing Civil about it!”

Despite being a public form, performance is increasingly driven by intensely personal visions. With Taylor Mac encamping at The Arches, Randon Accomplice staging  wedding reception at Langside Halls, and the latest incarnation of Rocky Horror arriving at the Playhouse, radically different visions of sexuality are dominating the stage throughout June.

All three productions share an enthusiasm for camp: Taylor Mac is a drag queen who rejects the clichés for more aggressive commentary on gender, while Rocky is a notorious celebration of pan-sexuality. Against this, the adaptation of When Harry Met Sally explores the evolution of a mature heterosexual relationship, pausing in the Jamie Cullum score only to vaguely shock with the orgasm scene, which has lost its bite through familiarity.

Camp itself is hardly outrageous anymore, but Taylor Mac's artistic restlessness drives a confrontational, yet charming, re-invention. His Comparison is Violence takes critics, who have compared him to Bowie and Tiny Tim, at their word, by performing Ziggy Stardust complete. On the ukulele. Mac's performance is haunting, through the strength of his personality. Brash, then coy, his presence is gripping and his monologues are vicious and compassionate by turns. Kitsch is not an end, but a weapon, and Mac promises to rip open ideas about influence and originality via a trip through Tiny Tim's songbook and Bowie's iconic album.

If Mac faces the audience armed only with a ukelele, Big Gay Wedding is complete with live band, service staff and arranged seating. Says McKnight, “I’d love it if people turned up dressed for the occasion, hats, fascinators, kilts, the lot!” McKnight is engaging with the social edge of sexuality: his own taste for camp is a humorous way into more serious issues. He acknowledges that he wants it to "be reflective of where I am as a person, but also want it to speak to people that, like me, are now starting to grow older, none-the-wiser but are having those thoughts that maybe they might never meet someone – and maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”

Despite the provocative title, “Funnily enough, I don’t think of it as a ‘gay wedding’,” says director Julie Brown. Since McKnight has been seen wearing a t-shirt that announces "Not Just For Gays," this supports the assumption that LGBTQ theatre is no longer marginalised as a special interest: while Taylor Mac may boast publicly that he is "a queen who can take a hint", this isn't work for some non-normative ghetto. The exploration of sexuality seems to emerge from the intensely personal vision of the artists, rather than just being a grand statement of identity.

When Harry Met Sally garnered some degree of controversy on its cinematic release for its frank portrayal of heterosexual relationships and faked orgasms. In a theatrical climate that welcomes musical adaptations of movies – to the extent that Hairspray is no longer a boundary crossing John Hughes underground hit but that one where John Travolta does drag – When Harry feels tame, even when it challenges ideas about male-female friendship. Against Rocky Horror, it is conservative and yet, it poses questions about sexual relationships that are uneasy.

Ironically, Rocky Horror has a community following that has made the theatre a safe play for outrageous behaviour. Current Frank'n'Furter David Bedella has commented that the community that surrounds the show has "been given permission to explore parts of themselves" that often don't fit mundane life.

Despite the advances made in Scottish legislation, the debate around sexuality rages. Once again, theatre offers a space for discussion: while all of the shows explore sexual perspectives, they refuse to become fixated on this single issue. Once upon a time, only When Harry Met Sally could have been expected to be seen as normative. The Rocky Horror Show has itself been instrumental in encouraging a cultural shift.

While there is clearly a need for protected spaces – Glasgay! is a shining example – LGBTQ work is no longer aimed at a niche market. Ironically, the drive of personal storytelling has exposed the shared experiences of diverse communities. As McKnight concludes about his own show, from the intimate detail comes the universal. “It is a life-affirming celebration of being a fucked-up thirty-something Scottish person.”