Laughter and Lies

“I would not advise any actor, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out... it doesn’t work if you’re gay.”

Rupert Everett.

It’s that great and lasting gossip, who’s gay in Hollywood. For many, it’s the endless speculation, which actor is really gay, which Hollywood marriage is really a sham? Hollywood itself doesn’t help matters, they award straight actors for playing gay but if an actor comes out as gay their career dries faster than a straight-to-DVD sequel.

Last night we went to see the Westend production of The Little Dog Laughed, by Douglas Carter Beane, which is about Hollywood Homophobia and how do you live within that if you’re a gay actor. This is not an original premise, other plays have looked at it before, but this time the enemy isn’t some big bad straight Hollywood mogul, the enemy here is the Hollywood system.

Diana is a Hollywood agent, a lesbian who has sacrificed her sexuality for her career. Mitchell is a Hollywood actor on the rise, and Diana’s client, but he’s also gay. Alex is a New York rent boy and Ellen is his party-girl girlfriend. On a trip to New Year, Mitchell meets Alex and the two men fall for each other; but Diana is busy negotiating producing a film that will star Mitchell and the last thing she needs is a gay leading man.

The plot might not be original but Carter Beane’s handling of it is. He shows a deep cynicism for Hollywood and the whole process of film making, painting a world where people will sell their very soul for a hit movie, but done so with such political manoeuvring and manipulation as to put the Borgias to shame. The cynicism here certainly stretches to the play’s ending, this isn’t happy-ever-after fantasy of so many other gay plays. The fast pace of the play, many of the characters talking directly to the audience, fitted well with its setting and subject matter. (I did wonder who the character of the agent was based on, she manipulates all around her with such a razor sharp edge that had to come from some insider knowledge)

The cast was certainly four beautiful people, but these were actors who were more than just good looks. Rupert Friend was insecure, needy and lonely as Mitchell. Harry Lloyd was cute but naive as Alex (his rent boy might know his way around a bedroom but was clueless about his own emotions). Gemma Atherton fleshed out the under-written role of Ellen, the character only coming into her own in the second act. But the star here was Tamsin Grieg as Diana. She was funny but frighteningly manipulative, hard in her drive for success. This was a woman you didn’t dare get on the wrong side of.

The Little Dog Laughed was certainly an enjoyable play, its sharp wit driving it forward; but its cynicism and unflattering view of Hollywood also made a dark and unlimitedly uncomfortable story. Hollywood homophobia is still a nasty and distasteful thing, propped up by so many lesbians and gay men.

As an aside: in 1988 when Ian McKellen came out as gay I was still struggling to come to terms with my own sexuality. His very public coming out meant so much to me. Here was an actor that I admired, who I’d seen on stage, and he was gay too. He was also happy to tell people so. He was the opposite of the stereotypes I had been raised with. It was one of those important, turning points in my life.

Drew.