To Be Straight With You

A brilliant and thought provoking show performed by the fantastc company DV8 at the National Theatre, London. I recently saw this show in London when on a Theatre Arts course with ISTA and it absolutely blew my mind. It was, as far as I could tell, a group of actors and actresses acting with the stories of those who had been discriminated against due to homosexuality and lesbianism, or their views upon it. The piece of theatre lasted for around 90 minutes and incorporated a large amount of Physical Theatre, Media in Performance, and the director seemed to be influenced by Peter Brook's The Empty Space.
Despite it's short length, the show as a whole was truly breathtaking and I was astounded by each actors performance. The physical movement and dance was co-ordinated and so well timed creating a sense of unity between all Gay People regardless of colour, race and gender. The show had a hard-hitting message and, I thought, seeked to inform rather than to offer help to those who were gay thus eliminating the fact that it could be percieved as 'pretentious'.
All the experiences depicted on stage were based on true stories (we were told) and this only made the show more effective in displaying the hardships that many go through from day to day as the spectator was knew that this is what actually happened. I don't know what I'm expected to do with the information that was presented to me as a spectator, but I do know that I really enjoyed this extremely powerful piece of theatre and would jump at the chance to go again!

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