Big Gay Musical

Good old Johnny McKnight. Not content with lonely Live Art, his recent career has seen him delve into pantomime and comedy, somehow fusing the confessional aspects of devised performance with traditional influences and structures. Settling on the right side of camp – rarely self-indulgent or hysterical – and enthusing his monologue with ironic songs and a sincere humour, The Big Gay Musical is a very personal meditation on identity that still has time for jokes about obscure sexual activities involving gas-masks.

With a tight three piece band and a female vocalist letting rip whenever Johnny's voice can't hit the high notes, this musical is as funny as stand-up but as intense as a confession. He explores his failed relationships and defeats at a school sports' day, self-depreciating and shuffling his way through anecdotes and show-stopping numbers. Hilarious and poignant, McKnight wrings the tragedy from being a fuck-buddy and the fun from failing to come out at a Christmas family meal. His honesty drives the show, and the finale accepts his defeats and redefines him as a winner, despite the lack of savings and a mortgage.

The themes that The Musical touches are not just of interest to gay men. He finds a universality in his experience and wins over the audience with boyish charm. The Scottish traditions of story-telling and the use of West Coast vocabulary – 'the boabie' raises it head frequently – make this a distinctively Caledonian entertainment, but the regionalism is never parochial. Just like that skipping race back in primary eight, Johnny is winning by a mile.