Siren Theatre’s production of Cowbois by Charlie Josephine is an absolute visual delight, a whole lot of fun, and a poignant cry from the heart.
We’re in a small Wild West town, but all the men have gone off to find gold. Left to themselves, the women begin to wonder about possibilities, and with the arrival of charismatic outlaw Jack Cannon, they find gold of a very different sort.
There’s an exhilarating blend of genres: Western meets Magical Realism.
The Wild West is the ideal setting to interrogate assumptions about gender. (The West being a literary myth in which men are men, women are women…..and women are invariably either school teachers or show girls.) It’s a myth that begs explosion – and it gets it here. Jack is a trans man, and he offers a vision of gender identity radically different from what the towns people have previously known. It’s joyous and liberating, and Magical Realism helps represent his life-changing impact.
It’s a case of guns, glitter, and glorious growth.
Director Kate Gaul creates visual magic. The use of space is wonderful and the tableaux alone are spellbinding. Lighting design by Brockman and sound design by Aisling Bermingham add to the enchantment. Clay Crighton’s original songs complete the charm.
There are superb performances. Jules Billington as Jack is the embodiment of charisma, tempered with moments of confronting rawness, of searing emotional honesty. (Wait for when the words “cruel” and “fight” are uttered.) Matthew Abotomey as the drunken sheriff gives a performance of virtuosic range and marvellous physicality. Amie McKenna gives a terrific turn as a smart-mouthed school teacher, displaying brilliant comic timing. Emily Cascarino as the saloon keeper radiates intelligence, wonder and determination. Crighton’s cameo as a laughing trouble-maker is show-stopping.
Being a Western, at the finale there’s a shoot-out. This is handled with comic aplomb by the team. However, the subtext of this shoot-out is not to my peculiar political taste. I find dissatisfying the assumptions that the pursuit of a fair, full life is best described as a fight, that harmony is dependent on having common enemies, and that those enemies are expendable. But my political taste or not, there’s no doubt that what we’re given is a genuine expression of what it feels to experience this particularly cruel form of injustice, one that heartlessly denies who you are, and who you might become.
Paul Gilchrist
Cowbois by Charlie Josephine
Presented by Seymour Centre and Siren Theatre Company
At Seymour Centre until 13 Dec
Image by Alex Vaughan
Theatre Red 