Welcome to Curtain Call, our mostly queer take on the latest openings on Broadway and beyond.
The Rundown:
Jacob Perkins’ abstract new work opens on an anonymous sexual encounter between two middle-aged men. They met on an app – most likely. But while ‘One’ (Robert Stanton) asks many intimate questions, ‘Two’ (Scott Parkinson) prefers to keep it impersonal. As ‘One’ and ‘Two’ begin role-playing, Perkins’ kaleidoscopic work shifts and changes, hurtling the pair through an array of revealing situations, each one attacking a new facet of the queer experience.
No Tea, No Shade:
The Gold Room is difficult to describe and, often, just as difficult to follow. Neither character is named. ‘One’ seems to remain the same person throughout the play: a timid, uncertain figure cautiously exploring his queer identity in middle age. ‘Two’ takes on a wider variety of roles — a doctor, an artistic director — all of them authority figures who carry more experience, particularly one potential hook-up who talks ‘One’ through the step-by-step practicalities of anal sex: “lots. of. lube.” Yet there are times when these power dynamics shift. ‘Two’ is more hesitant in the play’s opening scene, initially harder to draw into role-playing (unless that is, itself, part of the role-play).
Some scenes are hard to place into any clear context. In one vignette, ‘Two’ is a doctor examining ‘One’ for a possible case of anal warts. In another, he is the self-hating artistic director of an unnamed theater company, pushing ‘Two,’ now a playwright, to make his gay play less “intense.” Are all of these role-plays various pairings that the two figures we meet in the first scene are exploring together? Are we moving freely between moments in their actual lives as queer men? The intention may be something less literal-minded than either of those options.
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The impenetrability of the text and absence of any emotional throughline gives The Gold Room a cold, distant energy. Many interesting ideas around the queer experience are being explored here, and Perkins’ dialogue is pleasingly sharp. But absent of any clear focus, either around theme or character, it proves hard to engage. What is this all driving at?
The closing scenes don’t help to clarify. ‘One’ and ‘Two’ finally settle in front of a television and sit together, munching popcorn, while a voiceover booms out, telling a painful story about self-denial and closeted life. Listening to an anonymous recording is a clinical, untheatrical way to close out an already distancing show, and this ending feels like a shrug that leaves little illuminated.
Let’s Have a Moment:
The Gold Room does have two big things going for it: its two fantastic performers, Stanton and Parkinson. Robert Stanton is a longtime theater vet, often found in supporting and character parts. Here, he gets the well-deserved chance to anchor a show. It’s a disarmingly sweet turn that captures the almost child-like vulnerability of an adult man newly exploring his latent queerness.
Parkinson is a chillier presence, and sometimes even a scary one, as when he appears over ‘One’ in a blood-soaked apron clutching a kitchen knife. (It’s a Halloween costume – hard to explain.) However, he’s also often incredibly funny, especially as the self-amused doctor who suggests his patient’s next work be called: “Once Upon A Time I Had Some Hemorrhoids!” The two bring much-needed humanity to the evening, though their characters are ultimately ideas more than fully-fledged individuals.
The Last Word:
Many themes explored in The Gold Room will be intimately familiar for any gay man watching: early trepidations around anal sex, navigating the fear of STIs, and finding a safe, comfortable sexual partner. Yet ultimately, the observations feel a bit too familiar. No new ground is covered here, and without real characters for us to connect with, the whole evening feels more gold-plated than a solid gold theatrical endeavor.
The Gold Room is presented by ‘i am a slow tide’ at HERE Arts Center through November 5, 2022.
CNY1983
i like hard to follow. i dont seem to have a problem with following it.