Launch

Address by Brian Merriman, Artistic Director, at the launch of the First International Gay Theatre Festival, in Andrews Lane Theatre, Thursday April 1st 2004 at 18.00 hours.

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen and thank you for joining us in launching the first International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. I am very grateful to the uniquely qualified Senator David Norris for agreeing to become the Patron of the Festival. His qualifications are as diverse as he is himself, in that firstly he has done so much to ensure that the voices and contribution of gay people to Irish society can now be heard. David is not only a supporter of the arts but a practitioner as well. His Joycean one man show has been acclaimed and I had the privilege of directing him a decade ago in the musical revue Side by Side by Sondheim in the Olympia Theatre and Clontarf Castle.

Background

How times have changed. In the late 1970s the Project Arts Centre hosted a production by the London based theatre group Gay Sweatshop which caused outrage amongst some elected members of the then City Council, who not only wanted the production shut down, but all funding to be removed from the Project aswell! The response to this Festival, including the support we have received from Dublin City Council, is testimony to the quantum leap in attitudes that has occurred. This affirmation of cultural diversity will hopefully continue to develop as a result of many things, including a festival like this, and the more established Alternative Lesbian Arts Festival - ALAF that takes place in Dublin this weekend - we wish them every success.

My Own interest

My own interest in this area has been inspired by many events. Firstly, I produced, directed and performed in the Irish premiere production of 'La Cage Aux Folles' in the Olympia in the year of decriminalisation, 1993. I repeated that production in the SFX City Theatre in October last to mark the tenth anniversary of decriminalisation. In 2000, I staged the world premiere of another musical 'A Chelsea Affair' about the life of Oscar Wilde, to mark the centenary of his death, and have just successfully completed a Masters Degree in UCD exploring the visibility of gay men in Irish society post decriminalisation.

The Emblem

Allow me to first introduce our emblem - the Green Carnation. This gay symbol first emerged in Paris in the late 1880s. It was embraced and adopted by Oscar Wilde who later claimed credit for inventing it. At the opening nights of his plays he caused great gossip and controversy by getting his gay friends to attend at the theatre wearing a green carnation. Well if the play flopped he was at least guaranteed column inches the following day about the carnations! Later in the year of his trials 1895, a former colleague wrote an allegedly fictional piece about an older man having an affair with a younger man - it was blatantly the outing of Oscar's relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. The novel was called The Green Carnation.
The Role of Theatre

Theatre itself has often given a safe haven to gay people is less accepting times. Very often gay artists were only tolerated in society because of their exceptional talents to amuse or entertain. I remember being given a tour of the Athenaeum Theatre in Enniscorthy twenty years ago and was proudly told that this was where Hilton Edwards and Micheal Mac Liammoir first met. At the latter's funeral, President de Valera, who had led many governments that maintained the laws criminalising being gay, was among the first to offer sympathy to Hilton Edwards on his loss. I would be proud to see this festival develop into an event that would continue to increase the visibility, and celebrate the contribution of gay people, to theatre in Ireland and abroad.

Theatre has always offered a voice to the voiceless. Comedy and Drama have often been used to powerfully challenge prevailing societal mores. It was the forum used by republican playwrights to challenge the appropriateness of the British administration in Ireland. One of the theatrical codes for Ireland, and its political struggles was the invention of 'Kathleen Ni Houlihan'. Gay people have also used codes to communicate or be heard in society, and in theatre. The first international Dublin Gay Festival programme is designed not to present these works in any different way, but to offer the possibility to hear and see these works in a different context - perhaps allowing them to be 'decoded'.

Truth in Theatre

The best advice young writers get when starting out, is to write with confidence about what you know best. Use your own life experience, it is your own truth. Too often when gay authors wrote about love, life, hopes, disappointments whether in comedy or tragedy, they had to shroud the presentation of their life experiences, or social commentary to conform to the norm of, and to be accepted by a heterosexually constructed society. In our very modest first festival we can now present these works in the context in which they were written. It gives us all an opportunity to consider them, or to explore their meaning in the context of the life experiences of the authors. As a director one strives to do justice to the author and be true to what is written, I believe this festival opens the possibility of taking another small step on that road to theatrical truth.

The Response

We have packed a lot into the programme and I am quite stunned with the way in which the theatrical community has come on board instantly acknowledging the potential of such an event. We have performances of long established authors, by experienced actors, and we are showcasing new works by gay authors and new and emerging theatrical talents.

The Programme

We are introducing a Theatre Shorts Programme, a night of one act plays including 'Karamazoo', by Philip Ridley a 20 minute young people's theatre piece about bullying from Crooked House Theatre Company, Kildare, the new Irish comedy written by Warren Meyler and starring Sheila Hamilton (Hedder Boa) one woman show Some Woman for One Woman, and the work of Irish author Robin Keogh 'Don't Take Your Coat Off' which explores the warm relationship between a grandmother and her grandson presented by Darkhorse Productions. Also in the first week the Festival is delighted to be associated with a Trinity College student production of Oscar Wilde's 'Salome' adapted by Kate McLaughlin.

We have broadened our horizons beyond these shores to include The Actors Circle from London and their presentation of the comedy 'Personals', based around the exploits of two couples sharing a flat and their efforts to find their other friend Matty a partner through the personal ads. This will run throughout the second week of the Festival in T @ 36 while over in the Players Theatre in Trinity we present a Franco/Irish collaboration supported by the Alliance Francais, of Fassbinder's black comedy 'Water Dropping on Burning Rocks' . The movie of this play was a hit in the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and the plot centres around Leopold, a businessman seducing a young couple Franz and Anna, and the return of his transsexual ex lover Vera!

As you can see there is a lot of upbeat work in the programme and rightly so, but the experience of gay life can also be dramatic and tragic. Jonathan Harvey is best known for his play Beautiful Thing, and we are delighted to present a production of another of his works 'Hush Abye Mountain', by Biscuits for Breakfast production company, Dublin about three young friends dealing with the loss of their friend Danny who died from an AIDS related illness.

I am delighted that The Love Doctor Theatre Company's production of The Laramie Project at the Helix has been included in the Festival. This tells the tragic true story of a young gay university student Matthew Shepherd, who was kidnapped, beaten and left to die, tied to a fence near Laramie in the US. It is a reminder that homophobia thrives in a society that refuses to hear, see or acknowledge the full and diverse range and possibilities of human emotion and expression that is the potential of all human beings.

On a lighter note, Musical Director David Wray and myself will be presenting a musical revue in Bewley's Cafe Theatre called 'Singing Out' - a revue of the works of gay composers and lyricists, and indeed some gay icons of music and musical theatre.
We are doing some play readings in the community by turning the biggest gay venue in Dublin, The George, into a mini theatre for an afternoon. Crooked House have delivered quite a coup in securing the first ever reading of the distinguished UK playwright Mark Ravenhill's new play 'Citizenship' as a work in progress, directed by Peter Hussey. This play deals with citizenship issues for emerging young gay and lesbian teenagers. We have a staged reading of the work of an emerging Irish author "A Monarch of Hollywood" a story loosely based on the early life experience of Rock Hudson written by Aiden Harney and presented by Syncretism with Italian Director Roberto Nisi.

The Final night of the Festival, Sunday May 16th will be a Gala Night of Theatre and the Arts, featuring snippets from festival productions, performances by special guests, and music, dance, poetry, and other examples of the contribution of gay artists.

Support

I would like to express my appreciation to those who have supported and facilitated this launch, Senator David Norris, Andrews Lane Theatre, The Swiss Delicatessen, The George/Capital Bars, and Dublin City Council. Thank you to the media and the gay press Scene City, Free and GCN. Our theatrical supporters Bill Hughes, Michael Scott, Darragh Kelly to name but a few.

We are still actively working on sponsorship as this event is not grant aided in any way. It is been run by professionals, a voluntary board of about eight people on a non profit basis. I am very grateful to Geoff, both Johns, Karl, Eddie, Alan and Mark in London for seeing the potential of this project and for giving so much of their time and talents to make it happen.

We have an individual Friends and Supporters Scheme which you might like to join - John has some forms. We are also looking for some more volunteers to help with anything from technical support, fund-raising, accommodating actors, to selling programmes - contact any member of the Board. We have a web site which will be up and running by the weekend www. Dublingaytheatrefestival.com and you can contact us on dublingaytheatrefestival @ hotmail.com. All tickets for events will be available from the Central Ticket Bureau. Season tickets will also be available.

The Future

I hope you will agree that in our first year we have managed to flag the areas where we would like to further explore in the Second International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in May 2005. These include our programming of long established works of gay authors and new works. Production companies from Dublin and beyond the Pale, and bringing in a strong international perspective from the UK, Europe and the US. We welcome established professionals, upcoming actors and student productions, regardless of the sexual orientation of those involved.

Our broad criteria for inclusion in the festival is that it must be a work by a gay author, have a gay character, contribution or relevance. We are presenting drama, comedy, performance and music in many forms, plays, one acts, one man shows, revues and a Gala concert. Not bad for a start, and a good foundation for the future. I am very grateful to all the artists for their generous support and contribution to this unique Irish theatrical event.

The Audience

Now I would ask you go to forth and spread the word to all who want to be part of this latest theatrical innovation. Draft copies of the Programme are available this evening and watch out for any additions or amendments on our website. We are working hard on bringing most of the ingredients to the Festival, including the productions, the marketing, and sponsorship and technical support. You can help in those areas please, but crucially, in order for us to succeed in this innovative endeavour, you can help supply the life blood of any festival - the audience.