"Michael Pope is Gay for Pay" and "Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales" at 59E59 Theater C
“Michael Pope is Gay for Pay” Reviews by David Roberts and Joseph Verlezza “Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales” Review by David Roberts East to Edinburgh Festival, 59E59 Theater C Tuesday July 11, 2012
Two Storytellers with Different Endings
The 8th Annual East to Edinburgh Festival is being hosted at 59E59 Theaters through Sunday July 29. The productions opening the festival, “Michael Pope is Gay for Pay” and Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales,” feature two seasoned and competent storytellers who use their craft to share two tales of journeys of the body, mind, and human spirit. Kris Kristofferson/Fred Foster’s lyric in “Me and Bobby McGhee,” immortalized by Janis Joplin, captures the essence of both one-person performances: “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, and nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free.”
“Michael Pope is Gay for Pay” Review by David Roberts, Theatre Reviews Limited: At 30, Michael Pope has nothing left to lose. Jobless, with a mere $28.97 in his bank account, Pope answers an ad in the “Village Voice” for men who know how to use a phone. “Michael Pope is Gay for Pay” chronicles the true story of his providing stimulating phone sex for gay men and those straight women who fantasize being with them. Oddly, there is no mention of the straight men who also use such provocative services when bored with their seemingly heteronormative lives. The audience gets to listen in on Pope’s “top” (the half Chinese, half Scottish Devon) as he satisfies his callers as no other theatre of the absurd phone prostitute could. Michael Pope’s tale is sometimes quite fascinating and gathers strength when Pope is sharing something of his true self and the New York City of his youth. When the story centers on Pope as the “Crazy White Boy” and on the pre-Bloomberg New York City “packed tight with liars, perverts, and cheats,” the audience connects with Pope and his spirit of survival. Unfortunately, the stories of Pope as Devon are not as engaging because the audience cannot see Michael Pope in those stories. Normally, an actor’s sexual status is not relevant to his or her performance. In the case of “Michael Pope is Gay for Pay” it is essential to know whether the storyteller is straight, gay, or unsure. For example, when Pope describes his gay bear of an employer, he uses stereotypical gestures and voice (not acceptable for a straight man to do). When he describes his two fellow phone sex providers, he indicates they are gay but fails to include himself in that same category. Pope shares that he was engaged to a woman who left him. If he is gay, his story is powerful in a way that is different than if he is straight. Finally, Michael Pope shares that he has a variety of “albatross around his neck” issues. He describes himself as drinking excessively, he has a film he seems never to finish, and his Crazy White Boy days seem not to have ended. The audience wonders: has Michael finished that film? Is he working? Does he still drink to excess? Has he established any significant relationships? Audience and critic want more of Michael and we do not think that is too much to ask.
Review by Joseph Verlezza, Theatre Reviews Limited: As an actor, Michael Pope is audience friendly, often comical, an engaging storyteller. As the writer of the piece he also chooses to perform, he somewhat misses the mark. Phone sex is basically erotic verbal prostitution: once speaking to the client, one becomes part of the sexual act which, hopefully, results in payment at completion. The audience learns from Michael how his erotic encounters satisfy his clients; however, the audience never knows what effect the encounter has on Michael. After a long night of endless calls, what is Michael thinking as he lies alone in bed? The audience can only wonder. If it is important to tell this story, it is just as relevant for Michael to let his audience know who he is. After all, this audience did not make a phone call.
MICHAEL POPE IS GAY FOR PAY. Written and performed by Michael Pope. Directed by Brianna Olson. Remaining performance on Saturday July 14 at 7:00 p.m.
“Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales” Review by David Roberts, Theatre Reviews Limited: In the intriguing and successful “Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales,” writer and performer DeeDee Stewart chronicles her life from 1978 until 1994. The daughter of a physically abusive alcoholic father (and later an equally abusive alcoholic mother), Stewart uses her persuasive storytelling skills to capture what life was like for a co-dependent girl trying to find her way through the battlements of abuse, low self-esteem, loneliness, and teenage angst. The power of this performance is the trope (here an extended metaphor) of the myth and mores of Stewart’s various Barbie dolls (and one also co-dependent Ken). Picture child psychotherapy with dolls ramped up to the frenzied and fractured pace of seeing one’s life pass before one in under 60 minutes. Of the scenes and stories which comprise “Dirty Barbie,” perhaps the most engaging are “How Southern Women Saved My Life,” “The Real Christmas Cards,” the scene with Ken and DeeDee, the penultimate scene regarding her feelings about her mother, and “Barbie Lives” the final scene. Despite DeeDee’s tumultuous history with her mother, she confides that “[her] mother made regrettable choices, but I never went to bed without a kiss. Mother’s Day doesn’t bother me, but her birthday hits me like a brick every year, even when I plan that it won’t. It’s hard to explain why she was the perfect mother for me.” It is in Stewart’s skill of utilizing the rhetorical trope of antithesis that her performance finds power and enables the audience to engage with her wonderfully honest assessment of what it means to have to grow up despite all the odds. Thanks to DeeDee Stewart, other girls (and boys) will keep playing with Barbie and women and men will tell their stories.
DIRTY BARBIE AND OTHER GIRLHOOD TALES. Written, directed, and performed by DeeDee Stewart. Script and performance coach: Bree Luck. Remaining performances on July 12 and 14 at 9:00 p.m.
Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets to each EAST TO EDINBURGH show range from $12 - $20 ($8.50 -$14 for 59E59 Members). Tickets can be purchased by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59e59.org.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Thursday, July 12, 2012
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