A review by Merlin Stevens.
Gary, performed at the Cockpit Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe Festival is about repression, self-acceptance and identity.
The set up — a virulently bigoted UKIP Bermondsey politician sustains a head injury in a fight with queer protesters and police and wakes up to discover she is a trans woman — is surprisingly compelling. As a production it is by turns touching, goofy and sentimental.
It’s a slightly surreal comedy — there’s a nurse who might be a doctor searching for a doctor who might be a nurse, dream sequences and moments that might not quite literally have happened.
The majority of the dialogue works and all of it the performances are good. Irene is understated and sincere, and her moments of discovery land. The younger UKIP member Darren’s violence is reflected in a visceral disgust that seems to cause him physical pain while Irene’s wife, a woman from Essex named Barbara, could have walked off the screen of a primetime sitcom, flustered prejudice leavened by effervescently deadpan delivery. The cleaner who shows up in the hospital room at varying intervals is charming and direct as she makes Irene face her past and future, while also moving through different levels of reality (i.e. dream to waking).
The emotional core of the play takes place between Irene and Chris, the nurse assigned to the floor of the hospital where the play takes place (it’s the NHS, there’s only one nurse). Chris is kind to Irene, helping her to understand possiblities she hadn’t known before, but she’s also just doing her job and being a decent person. Chris is also a trans woman, although she doesn’t tell Irene this until partway through the play.
Ultimately the play Gary draws a line between unwillingness and willingness to accept oneself and others and positions its central character to cross this divide. I was left wondering if Irene could be considered the same person as the violent character who started the play, but also to what extent that continuity of identity matters to what the play was trying to say.
3.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ +1/2
Gary will be at the Etcetera Theatre, London 3/9 and 10/9, and at Watford Fringe 30/9.
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