Making, Out: Plays by Gay Men

Ian C. Nelson is Assistant Director of Libraries, University of
Saskatchewan; and Director, Saskatoon Gateway Plays, Regina Summer
Stage, and La Troupe du Jour.

Robert Wallace quite correctly assesses in his introduction to this book
that Making, Out “will stimulate discussion of the relations between
gay subjectivities, representation, and reading [ . . . responding] to
the silence that currently surrounds the work of gay men and lesbian
women in the institutions of Canadian culture.” As a first Canadian
anthology of gay scripts it makes a bold statement; there are already
many such anthologies in the United States. Wallace is well qualified to
create this first compilation: a playwright during the 1970s himself, he
was editor of the Canadian Theatre Review from 1982 to 1988, and has
latterly served as drama editor for Coach House Press (with five books
under his editorship having received the Governor General’s Literary
Award for drama). In a style that occasionally becomes too dense and
academic, he poses many essential questions and offers insightful
observations. Surprisingly, although he speculates on the process of
creating a canon of works, he does not consciously set out to do so
here—neither by choice for inclusion nor by means of a definitive list
of works to date. Instead, he brings together seven recent plays, with
major exposure largely restricted to Toronto. Perhaps, however, his
choice serves as announcement: Flesh and Blood, by Colin Thomas, was
recently produced as an AIDS benefit production at the Globe Theatre in
Regina. It is nevertheless surprising—in an initial anthology
specifically—not to see a classic (and cause célиbre at the time)
such as John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes.

The language in these plays is trenchant. Brave Hearts, by Harry
Rintoul, and Touch, by David Demchuk, are most specifically about the
gay “lifestyle,” and in many the issue of AIDS does, as might be
expected, come up. Ken Garnhum’s Beuys Buoys Boys is, however, very
strongly focused on the nature of art, and the musical Capote at Yaddo,
by Sky Gilbert and John Alcorn (the rather undistinguished vocal lines
of the music are included), does interesting things with literary
anecdotes or myth. This of course posits a legitimate question of what
actually constitutes a “gay play.” Readers will find their thoughts
stimulated by both the scripts and the editorial material included in
this anthology. Notes by the contributors are also included, as are
thumbnail biographies.