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The Young Ladies of…
Written and performed by Taylor Mac
Directed by Bonnie Metzgar
Produced by About Face Theatre
At The Center on Halsted
3656 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL
Call 773 784 8565 , www.aboutfacetheatre.com
Tickets $25 -$40
Wednesdays thru Sundays at 7:30 pm
Saturday matinees at 4 pm
Running time is 85 minutes without intermission
Through October 26, 2008
Provocative clown drag show deals with how families impact who we become
Taylor Mac is a playwright, actor, clown, drag queer and theatre artist whose has performed his life’s story in his one person show “Ladies of the…” all around the world to critical acclaim. In his first visit to Chicago, Mac’s show opened at The Center on Halsted in boystown produced by About Face Theatre. “Ladies of the…” is part drag show, part clown show, part social commentary on the impact of family in shaping who we are. Taylor Mac plays the ukulele as he combines provocative visual imagery, sick humor and song to tell his personal story. He explores the contradictions in his bringing up in redneck conservative Texas where masculinity dominates over femininity despite having infant boys dressed as little girls.
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Much of the show dwells upon Mac trying to discover the father he barely knew. His father, Lt. Robert Mac was a soldier stationed in Viet Nam when he placed an ad in an Australian newspaper asking young ladies to write him. His father received thousands of letters. Mac uses these letters to comment on his father’s conservative beliefs, his machismo and his sexual attraction plus his love for beer. Mac juxtaposes his own drag/pastiche artistic tendencies against his father’s life. Mac uses songs from the movie “Carousel”—his father’s favorite to get us to enter his world.
The show has standup comic bits with drag show styles (Mac is in an outrageous wig, eye lashes and a weird see-through dress.) He produces some weird and chaotic movements with poignant and profound thrown in. We laugh and become uncomfortable at times in this unique and engaging show. It is an artistically adventurous show that is unpredictable yet heartening. It is perhaps a tad too long and it loses us at times in Mac’s interpersonal recollections. Yet the work has substance. It appeals more to gays but it will work as a unique night of theatrical entertainment for those who enjoy drag shows and personal confessionals.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 30, 2008
Jeff Recommended
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