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Coming right to the point here, this “piece” is by, for, and about men. It’s an original creative work by two men, Trevor Copp and Jeff Fox, for themselves to perform, about themselves. In the way men do, they thrust and parry, playing off each other, testing the testosterone power of each other, looking to establish their roles. Sex, talk of sex, is rife throughout, as are feelings of hurt, joy, betrayal, loyalty, and, brace yourselves, love. A bit of sports comes up, women of course, homophobic slurs and jokes, all the stuff that men feel they must deal with in their quotidian discourse. For its central conflict, there is marriage, often a subject of controversy among men, and in this case, the protagonists are faced with the dilemma of the impending wedding of Trevor, and his anxiety of “the first dance.” Recruited for his experience and expertise in the matter of dancing, friend Jeff provides Trevor the stage on which the story of his way in life through a dance can be told. In the subtext there is another matter, quite seminal to the growth of the story. Let’s leave that for a moment. Suffice to say that this dancing business presents a more universal social dilemma for us to ponder and question.
Two master performances absorb us into this masculine world. Trevor Copp gives the marvel to marvelous, taking to the stage with confident assurance, all 30-something of him, fit, slight of stature, tight of body. As his foil, Jeff Fox moves in and around the action with the expert grace of the athlete he resembles, an actor whose elegant mobility belies his heavier frame. To beg the rest of that metaphor, they play for the goal with repeated scores of thrilling moments, arousing last night’s audience to emotional gasps of disturbing drama and joyous bursts of explosive laughter. The architecture of this piece is free-flowing, times and places coming into light and out of it like a mobile. Its centre of energy is dance, its defining shapes are of dance, and, be alerted, both actors are also champion ballroom dancers. These two, my dear readers, are gay men and Trevor is engaged to marry his male lover whom we don’t meet. Enter will they this deep forest of heterosexual culture, the wedding ceremony, with its some thousands of years of tradition and cultural evolution. As gay men they are but a few years into it, a Hansel and Hansel with only bread crumbs for a trail.
Trevor cares, his mentor Jeff guides him. There is an opening silent dance and movement sequence of exquisite male beauty. Gazing into his mirror, an old-fashioned straight razor in hand, Trevor begins preparing himself for his wedding day using his audience for his looking glass. Lights alter, and Jeff appears, takes both the razor and Trevor in hand, and as can happen only in theatre, the action becomes dance, the place and time become a world measured only in the beats of two men engaged in the intimacy of ordinary living. The rest of the night’s journey from here to final dance is an engagement not to be denied. These are the early days of this creative work, charmingly awkward at times, like all youth in the first spurts of growth, but do see it while it still has the disarming young fuzz on its chin. Do. V
FIRST DANCE
Presented by Tottering Biped Theatre.
Runs August 25 – 27.
@ Burlington Student Theatre.
2131 Prospect St., Burlington.
totteringbiped.ca
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