Review: What it Means, Wilton’s Music Hall

Review: What it Means, Wilton’s Music Hall

Summary

Rating

60

Good

Based on Merle Miller’s seminal essay, ‘What It Means to Be a Homosexual’, James Corley imagines Miller’s writing process and depicts his own past and present experiences as a gay man in America.

What it Means is set in the early 1970s, in the aftermath of the Stonewall riots. Novelist and journalist, Merle Miller (Richard Cant), tells the audience repeatedly that there are many ways to protest: “gay radicalism is for the young, and I have a story to write.”

We meet Miller in his office, where he is wearing pyjamas, a silk dressing gown and slippers. He sits at his typewriter and tells us that he is working on his eleventh novel, What Happened. Yet after a tempestuous lunch with two editors from The New York Times Magazine, he agrees to write an essay about his personal experiences, entitled ‘What It Means to Be a Homosexual.’

His essay is in response to the notorious article ‘Homo/ Hetero: The Struggle for Sexual Identity’, published by Harper’s Magazine in September 1970. In this, Joseph Epstein wrote “If I had the power to do so, I would wish homosexuality off the face of the earth.”

In protest against Epstein’s homophobic article, the Gay Activists Alliance have organised a sit-in at the magazine’s offices in New York, and ask Miller for his help. This is demonstrated throughout the play with the use of sound. Faint shouting is heard to signify rallies occurring outside his window. However, the sound is rather too quiet and it is a struggle to make out exactly what is being said.

Miller’s office is raised above the audience and it is at times difficult to see what he points to on his desk. He spends most of the show pacing around his office, drinking what looks like scotch and ingesting tablets to help relieve stomach pains and anxiety. At times the play feels stagnant due to this repetitiveness.

Stairs from the office lead to the front of the stage, where Miller frequently stands directly in front of us, occasionally crouching down to eye-level. He addresses the audience with his dry humour and in these moments Cant’s comedic timing shines. Sarcasm is a welcome relief from the seriousness of the play’s important message: “Epstein is saying genocide for queers.” Yet, the humour consistently emphasises the play’s core themes and widens opportunity for reflection.

Lighting is used to indicate going back and forth in time as Miller reminisces about his past. Yet these moments can occur rapidly, causing the light changes to feel erratic and distracting. However, one effective moment is when Miller recollects facing his childhood bullies at a high school reunion. During this scene, the house lights are up. This is extremely uncomfortable for the audience as it makes us exposed, mimicking how Miller felt. When Miller finds refuge in the library, the houselights are turned off, and the audience relaxes again.

At times the play feels stagnant, despite Cant’s impressive acting, as not much action happens. The powerful script helps balance this, using excerpts from Miller’s own writing as well as that of E M Forster, but it still lacks momentum. Towards the end, an anonymous seventeen-year-old from Pittsburgh (Cayvan Coates) joins Miller on stage. His red hoodie and jeans indicates he is from the present-day, and their passionate conversation does revitalise the play, but it is perhaps too late.

What it Means is an important historical contribution about the realities for the LGBT committee in the early 1970s. Cant’s interactions with the audience provide relief from a serious topic, but also allow the audience space to reflect. For the most part the lighting is innovative and cleverly reflects Miller’s moods as well as indicating different timelines. The audience will leave the theatre eager to read (or re-read) Miller’s work.

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Written by: James Corley
Directed by: Harry Mackrill
Set and costume design by: Justin Arienti
Lighting designed by: Martha Godfrey
Sound designed by: Beth Duke
Produced by: Nisha Oza for The Lot Productions

What it Means plays at Wilton’s Music Hall until 28 October. Further information and bookings can be found here.