Superfluities Redux

by George Hunka
Artistic director, theatre minima

A Theatre Surrounds a City:
Vienna's Burgtheater


Tuesday, 13 November 2007

Suggested Reading: His Lavender Quill at Rest

Playwright Mark Ravenhill wrote at the Guardian yesterday that "writing gay" no longer interests him:

It's worth remembering, particularly in an age of "inclusion," that most good drama is not multicultural. It's created by exploring singular worlds, where there is no allowing for the interplay of gender, race, sexuality and class. ...

Now, I'm surprised to say, I'm happy never to write another gay character again. It feels as though every aspect of the gay experience has been narrated, performed and picked over in the past 30 years. It has left us with some brilliant work. Alongside all the bad generic gay work, artists such as Derek Jarman, Alan Hollinghurst, Tony Kushner and others have left a body of work that is both gay and great. But that work seems over now.

Right now, I'm eager to explore the strange, twilight world of the heterosexual -- to expose its anguishes and mysteries and unconscious comedies. Maybe one day there will be something to pull me back to the gay experience, the sense of something new to be said about the gay world. But, for the moment at least, my lavender quill is at rest.

Mark's full meditation on theatre, inclusion politics and multiculturalism on stage (at least, in conventional drama) is here.

Posted in /Drama

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