It’s great to finally see a gay themed play that doesn’t take itself too seriously or deal with the familiar, clichéd queer subjects of coming out, AIDS, or internet dating. Not that there’s anything wrong with these topics - after all they’re close to the communities heart and there’s still a lot to be said about them - but far too often these themes have become ‘gay theatre’. So when a fresh, amusing little comedy comes along that pokes fun at itself, cross dressing, the world of television soaps and the fans’ almost stalkerish devotion to its cast and plotlines, you can’t help but give it a warm, big hearted smile.
Exclusive Yarns is the name of a popular television soap opera that’s set in the heady world of a London wool shop where digital knitting counters are all the rage. It has big wigs, shoulder pads to match, bitchy one liners and larger than life performances that make the ham counter at the local supermarket look like Oscar winning potential. Cross Victoria Wood’s excellent spoof, Acorn Antiques with Dynasty and you’ll get the picture.
The TV show has a large cult following and a group of men regularly meet to dress up as the female characters and re-enact the weekly episodes. This has been going on for years and Terry (a lovely, understated performance by Julian Sims who has an air of Johnny Vaughn about him) has even knocked up a copy of the set in the front room of the house he shares with his partner Ian.
But the harmony of the group is unsettled when a newcomer, Malcolm, is brought in to play the small role of Amanda, the shop assistant in Exclusive Yarns. But as Amanda’s role in the soap begins to take over the TV series, fiction and reality merge and Malcolm gets his hands on more than just the limelight and their own stories begin to echo that of their favourite programme, with violent consequences.
The men may all cross dress, but the play is at pains to point out that this doesn’t imply that they’re also gay – although three out of four of the men are. I mean, Harry’s a married man and dressing up is just his way of letting off steam – and if that means full make up and high heels, then so be it.
But what’s more interesting is that the drag isn’t queen-like. It’s an ordinary, normal past time to these men. It isn’t sexual, meant to be seen by anyone else, or indeed something these guys do outside of the group's meetings, it’s just an everyday obsession and is far from traditionally glamorous. Terry hitches his skirt to have a good scratch, others teeter on their heels and the makeup is crude. The men dress up to satisfy their love of the soap, not their love of dressing up, otherwise they’d be in flattering outfits rather than pastel, TV copies.
Miles Western plays it for all he’s worth as the jilted boyfriend Ian. He has a plethora of looks, winks and pouts at his disposal and his constant tongue in check physicality injects some much need camp style to the proceedings. Jessica Martin plays three roles superbly and, as Harry’s wife in the final act, her obsession with the thickness of the walls is hilarious.
But like the fictional soap itself, Exclusive Yarns is an oddball comedy that would perhaps be more at home on the small screen. The thin script never quite works itself up into the surreal fantasy that it’s trying to mimic, and the attempt to bring the disparate plot strands together doesn’t quite work.
So, although the yarn might not be exactly exclusive (Acorn Antiques got there first) it is still an inventive, amusing comedy that takes our dedication to TV to extremes and shows a cast of ‘ordinary’ gay men trying to be happy – in all their quirky, cross dressing, bitchy glory.
Exclusive Yarns, by Gary Lyons and Stewart Permutt
New Wimbledon Studio
The Broadway
London, SW19 1QG
0870 060 6646
3 September-2 October 2004
Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat evenings 7.45pm; Thu 5pm; Sat matinee 3pm
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