THEATRE

THE LANRIC GALLERIES

PHONE (02) 389-4338

52 MACPHERSON STREET WAVERLEY Now Showing: An exciting 2 man exhibition by

GREG FENTON & PETER LOW Featuring works in Photography, Line Drawings & Pastels From Wednesday April 27 to Sunday May 8 OPEN WED TO SUN 10am to 6pm.

Artists wishing to submit works on consignment contact: Barry or Rick on 389-4338.

JORCH SONG TRILOGY

SIMONS CARPETS

75 OXFORD ST 6 SPRING ST

BONDI JUNCTION 387-3603; 387-3604

Range of 400 carpets Specialists in top quality Berbers, Plushes & Velours

THE NUDE EXHIBITION 20th Century Prints and Drawings 11 MAY-11 JUNE

Telephone: 357-3256

Hours: 12-6 pm Tues. to Sat.

or by appointment

"IT'S a sign of our discombobulated times that the most truly conservative play to come along in years, the play most committed to the classic values of fidelity, family, loving, parenthood et al is a play about homosexuality"... so writes Jack Kroll for a recent edition of Newsweek, in his rave review of the play Torch Song Trilogy.

Torch Song is a unique experience regardless of sexual persuasion. It has done the almost impossible and bridged the gap between straight and gay theatre, in bringing itself to the centre of Broadway and settling in very nicely right bang smack in the middle of 44th Street in the Little Theatre. It has gained world wide acclaim and a production is being mounted for the fall in the West End. Written by Harvey Fierstein, the play is a sometimes tragic, sometimes comic but always life asserting celebration of the existence of one Arnold Beckoff, played by Fierstein, (who makes no qualms that the work is semiautobiographical) Arnold is a female impersonator who bares his soul to the audience in the first moments of what is a very long four hour evening of entertainment.

Made up of three plays that were originally entities unto themselves, Fierstein has moulded them into one almighty onslaught to the sensibilities, that leaves one drained, warmed but most importantly more aware of the importance of one's own existence.

The first part, subtitled The International Stud sees Arnold in his dressing room equating the importance of his existence and the reasons for never being involved in a lasting personal relationship. Into his life comes Ed, a bisexual teacher, with whom Arnold falls in love, and a girl whom Ed intends to marry. The second part Fugue in a Nursery takes place a year later in a giant surrealist bed in which Arnold, Ed, Laurel (Ed's wife) and Alan (Arnold's new lover) conduct a dazzlingly staged crossfire of colloquies and copulations, enacted to a fugue. Thirdly Widows and Children First, is set five years later, Arnold has lost Alan to an attack by thugs, in which he was beaten to death. Moved and changed by this incident Arnold is in the process of adopting a 15-year-old gay street kid named David. At the same time, Ed has left his wife and is bunking on Arnold's couch. Into this rather confused household comes Arnold's Jewish Momma, with results that are both hilarious and heartbreaking. The play ends in a highly positive vein, with hope given that Arnold and Ed will finally settle into a permanent loving relationship and David

will be allowed to become Arnold's adopted son.

Torch Song Trilogy is a marvellous piece of theatre, it is viciously witty, warm and most importantly expertly crafted. Torch Song is fine theatre first and this is the reason it has crossed the barrier from gay theatre to gay commercial theatre. The evening I was in attendance, I would say 90 percent of the audience were theatregoers fresh from the stalls of 42nd Street and Dreamgirls. Mums, dads, kids, young guys with their girlfriends, all totally sympathetic with the play's theme and at one with Fierstein's outrageously: witty sense of humour.

Fierstein is amazing. He dominates every scene with a voice that is a cross between Susan Hayward and Tallulah Bankhead. His rate of energy is so great that another actor has to perform for matinees. Here is a major writing and acting talent, who can place gay theatre in an area accessible to all audiences from all walks of life. His Arnold is one of the most lovable and attractive characters to grace the stage for years. Of the other members of the Broadway cast, Fisher Stevens stands out as David, Arnold's adopted son. Stevens gives a glowing, warm, human performance that reaches out and touches the hearts of every member of the audience. They are expertly joined by Robert Sevra as the procrastinating Ed, Diane Tarleton as the confused Laurel and Estelle Getty as Mrs Beckoff. Ms Getty vocally was weak on the night I saw the show, but I believe this was owing to a throat infection as normally, I am told, she vocally challenges Fierstein in the show's dramatic closing moments.

Torch Song Trilogy gets its message across without condescending either to gay or straight in the audience. It is never preachy or overstated. It is controversial and outrageous with no nudity, language nor a single leer or smirk.

Of the three parts, the final act is undoubtedly the most conservative and conventional. The first two acts are stimulating when one looks back on them as part of the whole, but could do with some editing to make them more palatable to a world audience. But this is only minor carping in an evening of provocative and stimulating theatre. It is the most successful play about gay life, commercially speaking, since Boys in the Band, and when one looks at the negative bleakness of that piece, Torch Song is all the more refreshing for its positiveness and sense of celebration.

David Hockney

Mo Asleep 1971 (Detail)

GARRY ANDERSON GALLERY 12 Macleay Street, Potts Point 2011 Illustrated catalogue available.

HAS SUMMER BEEN ALL THAT

YOU HOPED IT WOULD BE?

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We are not a 'computer date'. We want to know you as well as we can, to find the real you under that super-confident or shy or businesslike facade. We want to work with the real you to help you achieve the relationship you want. And ind the process you just might find out quite a lot more about yourself.

Our clients tend to be fairly well educated, professional or business people. They are serious about wanting to find a particular kind of relationship, one that it could take more than a lifetime of summers to chance upon.

Ours is a very personal service. It takes time; it takes money. The search for a special relationship is worth more than the price of a couple of movies. We don't have massive computer listings of guys in every suburb, or questionnaire options like hairy hung or hunky. We do have understanding professional counsellors

to take you through the steps towards the possibility of real sharing and companionship. THIS Autumn, why not do something positive about the coming winter... and next summer... and the years ahead. Phone Yvonne Allen and Associaties to make a confidential, no-commitment appointment.

(02) 356 3663

Yvonne Allen and Associates

Human Relations Consultants

68 Brougham St., WOOLLOOMOOLOO

P.O. Box KX24

KINGS CROSS 2011

1983 MAY CAMPAIGN 49