Dumbledore is Gay ☆☆☆☆
Vault Festival, London

Can you remember falling in love when you were a teenager? Did you have a massive unrequited crush on your best mate at school? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then ‘Dumbledore is Gay’ will bring all those memories flooding back in vivid high definition.

Jack (a well-judged performance, full of sensitivity and plucky determination by Alex Britt) is 12 and we first meet him in his French class. Everything is “gay” to 12-year olds and this is no different for Jacks best mate Ollie (played by a perfectly cast dreamboat Max Percy). It is different for Jack, however, because he thinks “Ollie has a nose like a tiny ski jump”. Jack describes how hearing the other kids call each other fag (whilst barely understanding the terms) and use the word gay as a slur over and over again is “like pouring acid onto me”.

We fast forward to when he is 16. He has unexpected hard-ons and even an unexpected girlfriend.

The play charts the key teenage moments and the emotional responses that are highly authentic to the gay experience. The plot still centres on his long-term crush on best friend Ollie; “He’s the one”. When they are caught kissing, we learn that Ollie’s family are deeply homophobic, and we learn later that Ollie has committed suicide.

Through his grief, Jack (a diehard Harry Potter fan – hence the title) discovers the power of magic and that he can turn back time using a Time Turner. 3 x turns and he goes back in time to try and change history. He manages to fix some issues, but then other problems arise, and it all goes wrong. Damn that pesky temporal paradox!

He comes out to Ollie but in order to earn kudos, Ollie tells the whole football team and the rest of Jack’s days at school are absolute hell.

The pressure on gay kids manifests itself in a myriad of ways. There are 1000’s of morally compromised choices, betrayals and acts of self-hatred every day. As Jack says, “You can’t throw someone under the bus to protect yourself”.

The intelligent script (by Robert Holtom) rings true at every turn and it’s sad that it’s still relevant and still happening and the issues still need to be raised.

There are times when the dramatic tension is lost, and it all becomes a bit didactic (dare we say a bit Theatre In Education?). However, with killer lines like “I learned to rim. I liked it. I was good at it!”, maybe it’s not quite suitable for the kiddies

As Jack attempts another Time Turn (importantly this time we note his academic results are better when he is happy and secure at school) but we start to question if it is ever going to resolve everything? Is the gay fairy-tale out of reach? Shouldn’t we rather fight the issues and the bullies, and all learn to be more resilient?

The characters have a just enough depth to carry the plot, but it is inventive, beautifully directed (by Tom Wright) and the way all three performers (including the hilarious Charlotte Dowding as Gemma) throw themselves around the stage and the precision with which they slot into various characters is astounding.

This is a very fresh, honest take on the gay experience using fantasy to help us make sense of reality.

 

The Vault Festival
Until March 1st 2020

REVIEW : JONNY WARD

Jonny Ward, Queerguru Contributing EDITOR is a drama graduate but has worked backstage for many years at venues such as The ROYAL ALBERT Hall, The 02, Southbank Centre and is currently at The NATIONAL THEATRE. He lives in Hoxton, London and is delighted to check out the latest, the hottest and the downright dodgy in queer culture for Queerguru. (P.S. He is currently single)  @JonnyWard360