I recently attended a small rural community's Drama Production of Robin Hood. I have been a regular attendee of this community's annual live theatre presentation for about the last five years.
Many of the actors, stage hands, and directors are people I have known all my life. 90% of the audience are people whose families I have had the privilege to know ever since I can remember. The venue is a beloved building that holds many, many fond memories of Legion ceremonies, graduations, and weddings.
It is a place where I had come to again to feel safe and accepted, surrounded by people I understand and love, and with whom I share many of the same values and expectations of how life should be lived.
I believe the truth of the above paragraph is still valid.
However, I also believe that the people involved in this production of Robin Hood just simply do not know that one does not treat the people in the gay community in the manner in which they were portrayed. Gay stereotyping just should never ever be done anymore. I am referring to the limp wrists, flamboyant arm waving, hip swaying, and eye rolling flirty gestures that imitated a cat in heat that was done by the whiny voiced Will Scarlett in this presentation. Such a portrayal can only be based on outmoded and seriously dangerous beliefs of what is and what is not acceptable in a an informed and educated society. The acceptance of that type of humour has gone the way of wife beating jokes, along with Chinese laundry references, Blacks eating fried chicken and First Nation peoples wearing cheesy head dresses (As a University of Regina sports team has recently found much to its chagrin.)
Could it be possible that some of the people involved hadn't actually heard about all the hoopla that surrounded the Russian Olympics because of the way Gays and Lesbians are treated in that society?
To be fair to the audience in attendance, the presentation should have been billed for what it was-- adult entertainment containing sexual connotations, homophobic stereotyping, and masturbation simulation.
Dramatic productions have traditionally been an opportunity to address issues in society either through serious drama or through comedy. They can be an opportunity to spur reflection in the audience's conscience or expose truths or common beliefs .
My initial vision in my mind's eye when I think of this production? I see the Gay Will Scarlet pressing his hips into the buttocks of one of the guards of the Sheriff of Nottingham . Combine that image with Friar Tuck stroking his staff up and down...up and down and one begins to get the idea of the type of activity that was staged under the guise of entertainment.
The whole remembrance of the production is tainted with the type of cheap sexual gestures that is usually only associated with people who have no understanding of the issues our society faces in regards to bullying that is based on sexual orientation.
A short course on Copyright Law might also be in order.
Many of the actors, stage hands, and directors are people I have known all my life. 90% of the audience are people whose families I have had the privilege to know ever since I can remember. The venue is a beloved building that holds many, many fond memories of Legion ceremonies, graduations, and weddings.
It is a place where I had come to again to feel safe and accepted, surrounded by people I understand and love, and with whom I share many of the same values and expectations of how life should be lived.
I believe the truth of the above paragraph is still valid.
However, I also believe that the people involved in this production of Robin Hood just simply do not know that one does not treat the people in the gay community in the manner in which they were portrayed. Gay stereotyping just should never ever be done anymore. I am referring to the limp wrists, flamboyant arm waving, hip swaying, and eye rolling flirty gestures that imitated a cat in heat that was done by the whiny voiced Will Scarlett in this presentation. Such a portrayal can only be based on outmoded and seriously dangerous beliefs of what is and what is not acceptable in a an informed and educated society. The acceptance of that type of humour has gone the way of wife beating jokes, along with Chinese laundry references, Blacks eating fried chicken and First Nation peoples wearing cheesy head dresses (As a University of Regina sports team has recently found much to its chagrin.)
Could it be possible that some of the people involved hadn't actually heard about all the hoopla that surrounded the Russian Olympics because of the way Gays and Lesbians are treated in that society?
To be fair to the audience in attendance, the presentation should have been billed for what it was-- adult entertainment containing sexual connotations, homophobic stereotyping, and masturbation simulation.
Dramatic productions have traditionally been an opportunity to address issues in society either through serious drama or through comedy. They can be an opportunity to spur reflection in the audience's conscience or expose truths or common beliefs .
My initial vision in my mind's eye when I think of this production? I see the Gay Will Scarlet pressing his hips into the buttocks of one of the guards of the Sheriff of Nottingham . Combine that image with Friar Tuck stroking his staff up and down...up and down and one begins to get the idea of the type of activity that was staged under the guise of entertainment.
The whole remembrance of the production is tainted with the type of cheap sexual gestures that is usually only associated with people who have no understanding of the issues our society faces in regards to bullying that is based on sexual orientation.
The most disappointing part of the whole evening was not just the ruination of what basically is thought to be a children's story (and indeed the original script is meant to be just that), but the fact that so many intelligent and creative people involved in the production thought that to present the play in the manner in which it was would be a good example of what this community deems to be clever and socially acceptable.
Maybe someday when this community knows better it will do better. The University of Regina women's basketball team had to attend a few sessions of Cultural Sensitivity after their Cowboy and Indian cheerleader costume fiasco. Perhaps the organizers and participants of this year's Culture Shock presentation should attend something of the same with regards to homosexuality.
A short course on Copyright Law might also be in order.
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