Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
Doug Crossley talks about No More Mr Nice Gay
Doug Crossley is no stranger to pushing boundaries in his work. In his latest solo comedy show, No More Mr Nice Gay, he dives into the darker corners of his personality and upbringing, presenting an unflinching exploration of the “villainous” emotions often sidelined by society. The show, which blends confessional comedy with heartfelt songs, is set to make its one-night-only debut at Camden People’s Theatre on Saturday, 5th October.
Doug shares the inspirations behind the show, his thoughts on the evolving landscape of experimental theatre, and why he believes it’s essential to embrace the messiness of the creative process.
Welcome to Everything Theatre, do you want to introduce yourself.
My name is Doug Crossley, and I’m the writer and performer of No More Mr Nice Gay, playing for one night only at Camden People’s Theatre on Saturday 5th October at 7.15pm.
In the show, I look back at my own life as if I were the villain rather than the hero, exploring what I think are the villainous aspects of my personality, experience, and what I think are villainised emotions of the culture I was raised in.
What can audiences expect from the show?
It’s confessional comedy, with songs, and a hard soft punch. I’ve been told it’s both heartwarming and heartbreaking, and my favourite piece of audience feedback is that it has fun, feels, but not too many feels.
It’s queer, it’s experimental, it’s playful, and it’s punchy. You can expect to feel some things.
What was the inspiration behind the show? Are there any personal experiences that influenced the writing?
It’s inspired by the past five years of my life essentially. I track the period after having done my last solo show, which was a deep reach into empathy to understand the loss of a queer friend to suicide. I then explore the fallout of that, dive deep into the darkness of the covid lockdowns, appraise a lot of long-standing beliefs and cultural sacred cows (like empathy) and what it was like coming out of the other side, falling in love, and where I am in my life now.
I’m interested in autobiographical work, but also interested in playing with how we frame ourselves in that work. It’s why I am being very mischievous in this show, and flirting with being seen as a villain, even in my own life. It’s an attempt to engage with a broader and more twisty theme of how much we may have a part of us within that is not invested in our best interests.
It’s also poking at the idea that work that’s created out of a desire to “understand things” is always inherently biased. And asking, are we too fatigue to care any more? I like to talk impossibly complex themes and try and make them fun, sometimes I succeed, I guess you’ll have to come and find out.
Have any external influences or current events altered your original vision?
Yes, and no. I’ve drawn influence from how internet trends impact what news stories we give our attention to, and how it skews meaningful progress on major issues. Though this is an entire thesis I could write, I only nod to it in my show.
Who do you imagine enjoying the show the most?
The show is for the queers, the gays, and theys, for sure. But in truth it’s for anyone who’s up for having their emotions played with. Can you go with me into some dark material and laugh with me about it? Will you let me prod at the parts of you that you want to keep private? Will you open up to the possibility that you’re not as nice as you think?
What is it you hope the audience think about after watching the show?
I hope you’ll leave having been taking on a ride. I hope you’ll have laughed, cried, and thought about some things you’ve never thought about before.
Is this going to be the show’s first time on stage?
It’s not my first outing with this show. I’ve done four previous work-in-progress shows, one in London at the Pen Theatre, and three in Edinburgh, they have been in equal parts chaotic, joyful, stressful, exhausting, and inspiring.
I am deliberately taking a long window of time to call my show a “work in progress” because I think we’ve lost the willingness to invest in experimentation in theatre. I like that in comedy people will take years to build the material of a work in progress before debuting it, it appeals to me, I want to be allowed to reach an audience without being reviewed for a while.
I’ve had lifelong confidence issues, chronic mental and physical illness, and I don’t have any financial support to fall back on. If a show fails and I lose money, it takes me years to redress that balance.
So, I like being able to explore the work this way. Plus, the theatre and Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where I hope to take the show, has completely shifted from being a place where people delight and prosper in experimentation to a sharky shit fight of people having to land with a debut that is polished to within an inch of its life.
Ooh that turned into a bit of rant, didn’t it?
Are there any plans for what comes next after the show has finished its run– for you or the show?
I’d like to take the show to Edinburgh Fringe 2025, and then on tour. I’m hoping to meet my team of collaborators through this work in progress sharing progress. If you’re reading this and fancy a chat, please reach out.
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned from preparing for and participating in this show?
You’ll never feel ready. And it never won’t feel messy. So do it, do the thing you’ve been putting off, and do it now. Even just for five minutes. It’ll grow from there. Once it’s grown a bit, set a date to perform it, let it start moving.
Is there one question we really should have asked you already?
Yes, who are the divas that inspired the showman nature of this show? And I’d say the problematic gays in my cultural awareness growing up, Michael Barrymore, Dale Winton, Philip Schofield, and musically Liberace, and Anthony Newley (not gay but was married to Joan Collins so as good as). I’m also interested in taking on the culture that enjoys the demonisation of them.
Who would play you in the Hollywood adaptation of your life story?
Joan Collins, ideally. She’d have to go quite method, but I believe in her.
What made you decide to be part of Camden People’s Theatres Autumn season this year?
I had the pleasure of working with Brian Logan, who is a wise soul of the theatre, and I leapt at the chance of being part of the last season he programmed at the theatre before leaving to take on his new role.
Being a solo maker, we all know sets have to be bare minimum, how have you got around this with your set and props?
You can find some videos of me on my social media dragging my piano around the country and detailing the sweat and strain it has created in my body.
What words of advice/encouragement would you give anyone thinking about putting on a show here next year?
Experiment and perform it to anyone who will watch, and let it be a mess for as long as you can bear it. That’s where all the good stuff will come from.
Will you be frequenting the bar after your show, and if so, are you hoping people might stay to ask you about the show?
Yes please. I have always run away whenever I’ve done a show before because it’s so overwhelming. But I will stay this time, I will listen, and I will look like a deer in headlights, but I will also invite people to talk to me some more when the panic has died down.
If you had to describe your show as a meal what would it be, and why?
It would be a tasting menu of delicious cakes, but if you try to you eat them all at once you might feel sick.
What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received during your career, and how has it influenced your work on this show?
Somebody once said to me that the more cargo there is on a plane, the longer the runway it will need to take off. Same goes for artists, if you’re working with a lot of trauma or personal history, or any kind of complexity in your life or your work, it might take a long time for you to take off, but that’s ok, keep going.
Thanks to Doug for chatting with us. No More Mr Nice Gay will play at Camden People’s Theatre on Saturday 5th October. Further information and tickets available here.
