ScotsGay Magazine

****

You’ll get more than a flash of a well-turned ankle if you go along to “Apollo/Dionysus”. Two athletic young men desport themselves in true classical Greek fashion, playing the two Greek gods of the title - without a toga or loincloth in sight! The play is a discourse between Apollo, Dionysus, a child (who takes on the narrator role), and the priestess of the oracle at Delphi (a series of philosophical posers, with a Greek mythology primer thrown in - a justification for the voyeurism, if one was needed!). The characters ask questions of each other and the oracle, such as “Who are we allowed to love?” which can sound rather trite - but they are questions that need answering nonetheless - and the play, while not necessarily answering these perennial questions, at least reminds you of them. The audience (all male... OK, there was ONE woman) had probably all seen the promotional image on the cover of ScotsGay last month of a crouching naked man, and it was interesting to watch their faces as the actors’ genitalia loomed perilously close to the front row, or wobbled energetically as they leapt around the rather small space. However, the performance was both atmospheric and athletic - despite the allure of the flesh. There WERE hot and sweaty bodies, but that was just the audience! The musically-accompanied but physically-static intro was perhaps slightly longer than was necessary, giving one person a chance to decide that the flaunted flesh was not for him, after which the two actors (brothers playing the divine brothers of the title) became animated Greek statuary, and the inhibition - or attraction - of nudity gradually left the audience, although the odd sparkling eye was noticeable. It was actually refreshing to allow the drama to emerge, to accept the nudity as that of the character, rather than that of the actor. Don’t go to the show if you’re looking for cute bodies out of a porn magazine, these are real bodies - strong, lithe, and expressive. Whilst the nudity is likely to be the main reason for going, there are moments of genuine theatre... at one point, wine pours down a man’s naked body like blood - pooling on the white floor, a powerful image. The flesh is later expanded to include both male and female, as another naked body is introduced - a female body, Callipygean and voluptuous, a counterpoint to the tall, slender male bodies. It, too, received a libation, suggestive of a monthly cycle - but that’s perhaps a description too far for our gentle readers... If you have a penchant for philosophy and mythology, and an appreciation of the male form, you will probably have a diverting hour - oh, and the ornate painted and plastered ceiling is worth a look!

Roger Burroughes

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