Following
highly acclaimed, sell-out performances in Dublin, New York, Sydney and
Edinburgh, 5 Guys Chillin’ returns to
Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Woven together using the real words of real guys
found on Grindr, 5 Guys Chillin’ is a
state-of-the-nation play addressing one of the most important public health
crises of the twenty-first century, frankly discussing chemsex in taut,
intimate and unflinching verbatim drama.
5 Guys Chillin’
is addressing this urgent crisis, and has thus been performed all over the
world to great acclaim. Writer/director Peter Darney says: “I hope this play
shows some of the good times, some of the bad times, and encourages you think
about what is right for you. It’s your choice, no one else’s. But let’s all
talk, look out for each other, and make our decisions with free will, from an
informed place.”
With
more and more gay men falling into addiction, and more incidents of
chemsex-related crime, discussing this issue has never been more urgent – and
it isn’t going away. David Stuart of 56 Dean Street, a health clinic in Soho,
still sees approximately 3000+ drug cases per month, and that number is not
decreasing. He says “Gay communities around the world are in the throes of a
profound cultural shift; some of this is manifesting as poor sexual wellbeing,
and chemsex. We need kind hearts and cool heads to address it and I believe theatre,
at its very best, can help us to do this. I’m so pleased that Peter Darney has
had the courage and compassion to address these issues through the prism of
true stories; this is verbatim theatre. This is community.”
What was the inspiration for this
performance?
I was inspired to write my play
when a friend of mine got heavily involved in the chemsex scene. What started
as Saturday nights became Friday to Sunday, then Thursday to Monday, until eventually
his house became a 24/7 sex party.
He stopped sleeping, just G’d out and came
too and carried on. He lost his job, got into massive debt, and had a lot of
dark times. He would also tell me hilarious stories of his exploits. I realised
that this was happening everywhere, that you could find a chill pretty much
anywhere in central London with Grindr within 500 meters. And I was fascinated
that this secret world existed, behind closed doors, and that no-one was
talking about it.
Is performance still a good space for
the public discussion of ideas?
Yes, very much so! To me the theatre is
a place where we should be confronted with different ideas, shown different
perspectives. Its so easy for us all to walk around in a bubble- we see people
with similar views to the way we ourselves think and feel and not be challenged
to look outside of our “norm”. With 5 Guys Chillin’, we have also held numerous
post show discussions, and the play has been very effective as being a starting
point for discussion on issues that face the community. It makes people think,
argue, debate- which is so important. I am all for everyones right to free
choice in what they do- but it has to be from an informed place. Live
performance can really help with that.
How did you become interested in
making performance?
I think it is something that has always
been in me. I used to make shows at may Primary School and perform them in
assembly, and just didn’t ever really stop. In the past few years, with my work
in Verbatim theatre, adaption and writing, I have felt the most creatively
fulfilled I ever have, as I have moved from being a director to a theatre
maker. I love collaboration, and how all the different elements of live
performance can add another layer to an initial idea or stimulus.
Is there any particular approach to the
making of the show?
This was a really different approach to
theatre making for me. I would go onto Grindr and other MSM apps and find
people who seemed to be at Chemsex parties, and then contact them a few days
later to see if they would talk to me about their experiences. I would wait a
few days as I didn’t want people to tell me things when they were high that
they might not wish to disclose sober. After collating over 50 hours of
interviews, I took the 4 interviews that interested me the most (one was with a
couple) and then started to edit them together to try to make dialogue, adding
in bits from other interviews to expand on certain points. It was a really
painstaking process, but ultimately, when you see this show, you are hearing
the real words from real people giving a snapshot of a highly secretive
scene.
Does the show fit with your usual
productions?
Yes and No! I like to make work that
makes you think outside the box, that challenges preconceived ideas and
judgements, that hopefully might make you think about people with more
compassion. I think it fits into that very well. But Verbatim theatre, and
creating work in this way was a very different approach in creating a script
for me.
What do you hope that the audience will
experience?
I hope the audience will experience the
highs and lows of a modern chemsex party. They will get an insight into the
lives of the people that do it, what takes them there, what they get from it
and what it costs them.
What strategies did you consider towards
shaping this audience experience?
We have tried to create an immersive
edge to the experience. So- without giving too much away there is a pre-show
and a post-show. Our cast are often on the social media apps used to create the
show too, so the performance can reach out from the theatre and online. We also
use synthetic drugs, continual underscoring and anything else we can to make
the experience of the party seem as real as possible.
WINNER “Doric Wilson Award for Intercultural Dialogue” (2016)
WINNER “Micheál MacLiammóir Award for Best Male Performance” (2016)
WINNER “LGBTQ Brighton Fringe Award” (2016)
Ends
Title 5 Guys Chillin’
Writer/Director Peter Darney
Lighting Designer Sherry Coenen
Producer King’s Head Theatre and Em-Lou Productions
Performance Dates 2 – 27 August
2-4 August £10
5, 6, 10, 14, 15, 17, 21, 22, 24 August £13 (£11)
7, 8, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27 August £15 (£13)
Running Time 60 mins
Venue Assembly Roxy, Roxburgh Place
Ticket Price
Box Office assemblyfestival.com I 0131 623 3030
The King's Head Theatre is London's first and foremost pub theatre, led by Artistic Director, Adam Spreadbury-Maher. New writing, revivals, musicals, opera, cabaret and queer work sit side by side in an unashamedly eclectic programme of work. Thanks to an in-house agreement with Equity, we're leading the way when it comes to ethical employment on the fringe whilst our resident trainee director's scheme continues to provide comprehensive, vocational training to the rising stars of tomorrow. With high profile co-productions, national touring and transfers to and from the biggest arts festivals in the world, we're certainly not slowing down!
