Beyond The Fringe

Black Faggot is now being mounted for its second time in Australia as part of the World Theatre Festival 2014. Presented by Brisbane Powerhouse, WTF14 is billed to challenge the traditional definitions of theatre, and bring together an ensemble of iconoclastic performance artists from countries that range from Korea to the USA to Indonesia.

Written by NZ playwright Victor Rodger, who shares Samoan and Scottish heritage, Black Faggot was created in response to the protests against the New Zealand Civil Union Bill by the conservative Destiny Church and its adherents, based in the Pacific Islander community of South Auckland, who were “effectively marching against gay rights,” according to the show's director, Roy Ward. Rodger was inspired to write the show because he thought “at least one of those kids will be gay and probably feeling quite wretched about himself. The show explores the relation between faith and sexuality, and the homophobic tendencies within Maori and Islander culture.”

When asked what originally attracted him to direct the work, Ward explains, “I did it because Victor asked me to. I find it quite flattering that he trusts me with this work.” 

Black Faggot's strength lies in its ability to balance the heavy themes of social exclusion and persecution with bristling humour. The play is structured as a series of interconnected sketches that expertly combine dark and light elements to make serious moments hilarious. “The funny elements are there as a release, to have that contrast. There is nothing that hasn't been said in gay theatre for the twenty or thirty years we've been having this conversation. But what's specific about [the play is] those voices in that community, that haven't been heard that often. Nothing [in the play] was inspired by anger; it was designed to discuss what some of these people were going through.

 “It's Victor's play and every word is Victor's. [Yet], we discovered in rehearsals early on that there really needed to be a couple of story threads running through it to hold an audience. Whether an audience thinks they do or not, they want a story. [Creating that is] the biggest part of my contribution to the show.”

After WTF14, the future of the production is rosy, with a season in the Wellington International Arts Festival, back to Auckland for another season and then hopefully a stint in the Edinburgh Fringe. “The fact that it's gone outside NZ is a huge bonus; we never expected that. We seriously thought that it was going to be four nights in the fringe festival and that was it.”