Berto_Tony_201307_PhD .pdf - University of Guelph

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dubbed 'young gentlemen' " (Birnie, “Drama”). He does mention Assistant's relationship
with Playwright, but frames Assistant as a stereotype, "a bitchy gay sidekick" who starts
"out as a lover and [is] now cleaning up the playwright's messes". Kamal Al-Solaylee
(Globe and Mail) focuses on a wider range of gay themes than other reviews. He refers to
the era's positioning of gay issues, in that "His Greatness draws three portraits of male
sexuality struggling to find a place in the pre-AIDS playground of 1980." Yet he also
comments on one of the only relatively undisguised references to gay sexuality. He writes
"even if the small audience on the Saturday matinee I caught was uncertain how to take
some of the sexual banter – the young man describes himself as an 'aggressive bottom' in
the porn-industry parlance – the production hit the ground running . . ." (Al-Solaylee). His
comment suggests such a reference is unexpected by the kind of audience in attendance. Al-
Solaylee is an out, gay academic. The Globe and Mail is a national daily paper owned by
the Woodbridge Holding Company.
These reviews create and reflect a horizon of expectation the production constructed
for its audience. All reviews focus on Playwright, referring to him as Williams, despite his
listing in the program as the former. This conflation between character and historical figure
comes as no surprise given the play's media and MacIvor’s coy presentation. These
references follow the production’s focus on Williams while operating to close the gap that
MacIvor placed between his play and his source of inspiration in his foreword. Furthermore
a number of reviewers look for explorations of Williams's creativity, without actually
analysing the central narrative of the play: the end of a fourteen year, gay relationship, and
its connection to the creation of the inner play that is presented. All look to Williams (as