christian kain blackburn (left) and karmann bajuyo
photo credit // jeremy lawson
There's not much to learn from--but a lot to like--about F*cking Men an unabashed sexual merry-go-round and the summer/Pride offering from the newly reconstituted Bailiwick Chicago. Written by Tony Award-winning Joe DiPietro (whose musical Memphis currently plays Broadway) and based on 19th century Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler's much imitated La Ronde, this ten-scene cavalcade proves perfect proof that the gay world is very much a vertical, not a horizontal, community: Sex, its defining force, cuts through—and connects—every possible socioeconomic class, politics, religion, race, temperament and condition. Sexually active folks (I prefer to call them busybodies) are never more than "ten degrees of separation" apart. As E.M. Forster said (and sometimes did), "Only connect." Or, as the play ends, with the cast chanting the obvious: "You meet someone else." In any case it's all about sex, which the French wisely call "the little death." But then sex is all about life and even love.
There are ten entries in this chain letter of passion: That's the number of same-sex partners linked in round-robin fashion as one partner from each scene moves on to make love (or whoopee) with a new one in the next scene. These recyclers of romance reflect some very familiar challenges that arise in all relationships, from one night stands (like most here) to committed connections—crises of confidence, self-image, trust, fidelity, fantasy: Are you imagining someone else when you're getting off on a surrogate body? Can love be rented by the hour? Does monogamy mean missing out on the rides of a lifetime? Why do closet cases want to hurt the one they (just) loved? How does the love that dare not say its name manage to make so much noise?
The men who fuck and are fucked begin with an escort/hustler (sensuous Arthur Luis Soria) who finds sudden security with a soldier (sturdy Cameron Harms), a fighter who finds forgiveness a lot more enduring a benefit than a blow job. In turn the macho soldier beds a troubled graduate student (charming Armand Fields) who fears he's alienated the love of his life (offstage, alas). He finds a saving distraction from a cocky, pothead college kid (bumptious Cameron Johnson) who must learn that too much of a good thing is just that. The kid moves on to a married guy (Thad Anzur, complexly conflicted) who returns to his spouse (burly Karmann Bajuyo) to worry whether love can survive the cessation of sex. Without immediately disclosing his HIV status, he finds solace with a kind-hearted porn star (the incredibly gorgeous Christian Kain Blackburn) who, predictably not uptight about gratification, does not insist that life imitates art (or, in this case, sex copy celluloid). This sweet stud gets caught up in the neuroses of a very insecure playwright (bustling Ryan Lanning) who in turn threatens to out an Oscar-winning actor (Beau Forbes, whose resemblance to Tom Cruise is purely coincidental) who then decides to come out to a TV journalist (Norm Woodel), thereby ending his film career. (Some things refuse to change from Schnitzler's era to ours.)
Many of the revelations in this sexual tragicomedy are either glib or clichéd and, human nature being what it is, inevitably not very original or different from Schnitzler's enduring inventory. Shakespeare, as usual, said it best: "The course of true love never did run smooth." (That applies equally to brief sex and paid nookie.)
What redeems this 80-minute venture is the sincerity of director Tom Mullen's cast, 10 actors who, in a play this insistent, will clearly never need to wonder about their motivation. More than a depiction of serial promiscuity, F*cking Men is also more than its too generic title (which, depending on how you read it, could be both a gerund noun and an epithet). It offers a cross-section of a community that's inevitably linked by more than sex because fornication is never as simple as it's short. And did I mention that Christian Kain Blackburn is very good looking, as in "worth the price of admission" handsome?
Three stars
Review by Lawrence Bommer for ChicagoPride.com
You can catch F*cking Men on Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 7:00pm & 9:00pm, and Sundays at 7:00pm through July 25th. There will be no performance on Sunday, July 4. Individual tickets are $25.00 and group (6+) tickets are $20.00. Call the Theatre Building/Stage 773 box office at (773) 327-5252, or visit www.FMenChicago.com for tickets.
There are ten entries in this chain letter of passion: That's the number of same-sex partners linked in round-robin fashion as one partner from each scene moves on to make love (or whoopee) with a new one in the next scene. These recyclers of romance reflect some very familiar challenges that arise in all relationships, from one night stands (like most here) to committed connections—crises of confidence, self-image, trust, fidelity, fantasy: Are you imagining someone else when you're getting off on a surrogate body? Can love be rented by the hour? Does monogamy mean missing out on the rides of a lifetime? Why do closet cases want to hurt the one they (just) loved? How does the love that dare not say its name manage to make so much noise?
The men who fuck and are fucked begin with an escort/hustler (sensuous Arthur Luis Soria) who finds sudden security with a soldier (sturdy Cameron Harms), a fighter who finds forgiveness a lot more enduring a benefit than a blow job. In turn the macho soldier beds a troubled graduate student (charming Armand Fields) who fears he's alienated the love of his life (offstage, alas). He finds a saving distraction from a cocky, pothead college kid (bumptious Cameron Johnson) who must learn that too much of a good thing is just that. The kid moves on to a married guy (Thad Anzur, complexly conflicted) who returns to his spouse (burly Karmann Bajuyo) to worry whether love can survive the cessation of sex. Without immediately disclosing his HIV status, he finds solace with a kind-hearted porn star (the incredibly gorgeous Christian Kain Blackburn) who, predictably not uptight about gratification, does not insist that life imitates art (or, in this case, sex copy celluloid). This sweet stud gets caught up in the neuroses of a very insecure playwright (bustling Ryan Lanning) who in turn threatens to out an Oscar-winning actor (Beau Forbes, whose resemblance to Tom Cruise is purely coincidental) who then decides to come out to a TV journalist (Norm Woodel), thereby ending his film career. (Some things refuse to change from Schnitzler's era to ours.)
Many of the revelations in this sexual tragicomedy are either glib or clichéd and, human nature being what it is, inevitably not very original or different from Schnitzler's enduring inventory. Shakespeare, as usual, said it best: "The course of true love never did run smooth." (That applies equally to brief sex and paid nookie.)
What redeems this 80-minute venture is the sincerity of director Tom Mullen's cast, 10 actors who, in a play this insistent, will clearly never need to wonder about their motivation. More than a depiction of serial promiscuity, F*cking Men is also more than its too generic title (which, depending on how you read it, could be both a gerund noun and an epithet). It offers a cross-section of a community that's inevitably linked by more than sex because fornication is never as simple as it's short. And did I mention that Christian Kain Blackburn is very good looking, as in "worth the price of admission" handsome?
Three stars
Review by Lawrence Bommer for ChicagoPride.com
You can catch F*cking Men on Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 7:00pm & 9:00pm, and Sundays at 7:00pm through July 25th. There will be no performance on Sunday, July 4. Individual tickets are $25.00 and group (6+) tickets are $20.00. Call the Theatre Building/Stage 773 box office at (773) 327-5252, or visit www.FMenChicago.com for tickets.
