Queer stories bring spectrum of experience

Theatre director Bruce Brown.

Watching Victor Rodger's hit play Black Faggot gave emerging theatre writer, director and producer Bruce Brown an idea.

As he laughed at the jokes, blushed at the raunchy scenes and recognised the poignant moments, he observed how the audience responded. He could see that a local story about being gay, Polynesian and growing up in a church-going South Auckland family was touching the hearts of those around him.

Indeed, all the theatre he had seen as part of the Auckland Pride Festival provided a space for storytelling about what it means to be gay, bisexual or transgender. It was thought-provoking, honest and the kind of thing Brown wanted to encourage - so he devised The Legacy Project.

Just one of a number of theatrical events in this year's Pride Festival, it has involved Brown and a small team working with writers, directors and actors keen to explore queer themes in a series of six plays, none longer than 15 minutes.

Also working with the Short'n'Sweet festival of 10-minute plays, Brown wanted The Legacy Project to include an equally varied range of material.

Brown says the final six plays, chosen from submissions, include comedies and dramas and, surprisingly, only one deals with coming out. "I think that shows the community has moved on and is interested in stories about what happens once you've told your family and friends - like how do you have a relationship when the only relationships you can reference have been between a man and a woman?

"I would say theatre, more than film, has a power to change people's experiences of something, to alter their understanding of the world and to present other points of view. If we understand each other better, then it's harder to hate someone because most hate comes from misunderstanding.

"I hope the stories we present here will assist with that, and that they will make people feel less isolated." The Legacy Project will be staged at The Basement from February 11-15 at 7pm, as part of its Pride Week.

The programme also includes Fiona Samuel's play Lashings of Whipped Cream: A Session with a Teenage Dominatrix. Though it has been performed from New Zealand to New York, it is the first time the role of Mistress Dominique will be played by a cross-gendered performer, Brazilian drag diva Rhubarb Rouge (the alter-ego of Ricky Beirao).

Auckland's comedy dance troupe Dynamotion is also in action with Purple Rainbow, choreographed by Lara Fischel-Chisholm and Thomas Sainsbury, while Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys stars Dan Veint and Calum Gittins.

The Basement's smaller studio space is the venue for Teen Faggots Come To Life, a collection of stories told by gay, transgendered, fa'afafine, fakaleiti and bisexual Maori and Pacific Island performers and produced by the Mika Haka Foundation.

Meanwhile, Tapac holds its Inaugural Queer Festival from February 12-23. Shows include Night of the Queer-Cabaret with dancers from the Okareka Dance Company; the all-male cabaret Songs for Guy directed by Kip Chapman and featuring Todd Emerson, Paul Barrett, Andrew Laing and Martyn Wood; Ali Karunaharan's Mumbai Monologues, which include a wannabe Bollywood actor, a drag queen, an activist, a prostitute, a tourist, a grandmother and a fortune-teller; and Queen, a play by Sam Brooks on what it means to be a young gay man in Auckland. Brooks also wrote Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys.

Although it is not part of the Pride Festival, Black Faggot has a return Auckland season at the Herald Theatre from March 4-8.