What makes a gay theatre festival?

Dublin waited until 2004 for its first gay theatre festival, and thanks to a split there are now two. But what qualifies as 'gay' theatre, and will that keep straight audiences away? asks FIONA McCANN

WILDEAN WIT, sequined divas, rural family dysfunction, watch-repairing in a concentration camp and lonely cowboys looking for love: what could they possibly have in common? The Absolut Gay Theatre Festival, as it turns out, which will feature 20 shows over a two-week run that begins next week, as does the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival.

Though now it seems we’re spoiled for choice, until 2004 Dublin had no gay theatre festival at all. This changed with the founding of the original Gay Theatre Festival. The reason for such a move? “Because there wasn’t one,” says co-founder John Pickering. “It was to give visibility to gay authors and gay playwrights, and to give an international platform to artists that were portraying gay characters, had written a gay play or were gay writers themselves.”

Just six years on from the establishment of the first festival, a falling out among the festival organisers over what Pickering describes as “artistic differences” means the city now boasts two concurrent gay theatre festivals.

So who is the audience for this double festival whammy? As far as Pickering, now director of the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival, is concerned, the 20 shows he has programmed are not aimed exclusively at one demographic.

“The festival is aimed at all audiences, young and old, gay and straight, and we’ve tried to put together a programme that will cater to all tastes,” says Pickering. The programme was compiled based on specific criteria. “There has to be either a gay character, it has to be a performed work by gay authors, or the production has to have a gay relevance.

“I’m going to qualify that by saying that this year there have been so many playwrights, theatre companies and artists, regardless of sexual orientation, who have taken their time to be part of the festival.”

Playwright Elizabeth Moynihan, who has been married and is currently in a straight relationship, chose to include gay characters in her play, Slaughterhouse Swan, which opens at the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival.

“I wouldn’t be willing to define myself as a straight writer or a gay writer. I’m neither. I’m really a dramatist,” she says. For Moynihan, this festival is an opportunity for a straight audience to engage with gay issues, but also universal stories about love and loss and families, that are not exclusive to either a gay or straight experience. “I really hope that the straight community embraces the gay festival in the way that every gay person has to embrace any other theatre festival or any other play on a stage. The gay people in this town have to go to straight theatre and try to find something they can relate to. Let’s turn that around and have the straight community now embrace the gay theatre festival and relate to it.”

Moynihan’s play centres on a rural Irish family reunited for a birthday, and includes a character who has had a gay sexual experience. Yet she insists that none of what she writes about is divorced from her own experiences. “I’m just an ordinary girl from a small town,” she says, but adds that gay experiences are not just the remit of a particular demographic. “It doesn’t just happen to people who are extremely sexually brave or liberated or broad-minded or experimental.”

And though there may be plenty of food for thought in this year’s festival, Pickering is at pains to point out that the intention is not to score political points. “I have tried wherever possible never to be political,” he says. “I’m going to be hauled over the coals for saying this, but I’m here to present entertainment and good theatre. I’m not here to push gay politics down people throats. Obviously, there are messages in the plays, and we hope people will come out of them and think more favourably about the gay community.”

Pickering already notes a shift in audience perception since the first festival. “The plays are more widely accepted now than they were back in 2004. I do believe the festival is breaking down barriers and bringing people into theatre,” he says. And plenty of those people are heterosexual. “They’re not frightened of the words ‘gay theatre’ any more, because they know it will be of a definite quality.”

With notably mixed audiences attending many of the performances, Pickering, one of a team of about 40 volunteers who give their time free, says he has no idea what percentage of those who attend are gay or straight. Nor, perhaps, should he care. “We’re more interested in the nationalities of people rather than their sexual orientation,” he says. “And from records last year, there were somewhere in the region of 65 nationalities who attended the festival.”

The Absolut Gay Theatre Festival runs from tomorrow until May 16. More information and tickets from absolutgaytheatre.ie and from Filmbase (01-6778511). The International

• Dublin Gay Theatre Festival runs from May 3 to 16; gaytheatre.ie

Absolut Attractions

Mother/Son:US playwright Jeffrey Solomon's comedy drama about a young Jewish man coming out and how his mother comes to terms with her son's sexuality.

New Theatre, May 3rd-8th

Barbara & Liza Live:Steven Brinberg and Rick Skye perform their diva duet in full-sequinned, sparkly glory.

Smock Alley, May 10th-15th

Timekeepers: An award-winning Israeli drama about a young, camp, German homosexual and a conservative, elderly Jewish man who get thrown together in a concentration camp with the job of repairing watches.

Smock Alley, May 3rd to 8th

Oklahomo:Brokeback Mountain meets Broadway as the London Gay Men's Chorus take on the musical classic, Oklahoma.

Smock Alley, May 6th to 8th

Filth!:UK musical comedy duo Topping and Butch bring their rude and raucous

Edinburgh Fringe hit show to Dublin.

Break for the Border, May 3rd to 8th