60 Seconds With… The Multifaceted Creatives From ‘2 Queens. 2 Bars. 55 Years.’

Briefly introduce yourself/your company… 

I’m a queer man, a surveillance scholar, an actor, and a theatre creator. In addition to film and theatre acting (including Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Gallimard in M. Butterfly), I’ve created or co-created two other pieces. Both deal with the political economy of surveillance – how surveillance works, who owns the apparatus of surveillance, how it’s used and to what effect, what legal, technical, and economic structures make that use possible.

What is it that makes your work/company unique? 

Well, of course as artists we all bring our unique histories and perspectives to our work. So this piece, and my work in general, is informed by my work as an activist queer scholar. I like light, complex structures. Airy and hilarious, but complex, contradictory, and unsettling. Audiences will be hooked by these two different, yet very similar viewpoints that provide a hundred years of queer history in fifty-five minutes. 

What kind of experience do you hope audiences will have during your show? 

Well, I hope they’ll laugh. Both of the characters I play are very funny. And both are honest about their frustrations – so I hope the audience will empathize with that. And I hope that people will either learn about or remember ephemeral moments of queer history, and know that, even though we’re all in it together, we all experienced those moments differently.

Without spoilers, tell us what you think audiences will remember most about your show… 

I hope that audiences will remember that queer world-building is a perennial project. We’ve been engaging with lust, community, risk, threat, and joy for a long, long time.

How do you feel about participating in the 40th anniversary of the Vancouver Fringe!? 

Delighted! Excited!