Berto_Tony_201307_PhD .pdf - University of Guelph

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may unpack the source of discomfort and challenge its audiences with its social critique.
The script's development presumably arrived at a balance between these qualities (of
interest in critique and of discomfort) where its author and producers deemed it was worthy
of production.
MacLennan further comments on audience discomfort, or "squeamishness" when he
discusses the play's sex scene (MacLennan, “One”). While sex is obliquely referenced
throughout the script, Ivan and Elliot's scene of fellatio presents a performance of a
homosexual act on stage. The scene was directed in such a way that focused more on Ivan's
reaction as the passive partner, rather than the sex act itself. Through the use of lighting and
blocking the sex act was contained. MacLennan recalls:
. . . Ivan was facing downstage, Elliot on his knees facing upstage (thus
masking Ivan's crotch with his head). Our focus (in blocking and lighting)
was on Ivan's face as he was receiving the blow job. When Ivan then panics
and leaves, we then see Elliot turn, his face smeared, and finish the scene
with an emotional beat for him. However, when the actual sex was
happening, I believe it was more about Ivan . . . With the exception of the
use of lighting (putting the focus primarily on Ivan's face) the sex itself
wasn't particularly stylized. We went for realism, however brief (boys will
be boys). (MacLennan, “One”)
The scene was given much consideration in terms of audience reaction. MacLennan
continues:
Staging the sex was of course a big area of discussion. Nobody wanted it to
feel gratuitous, and perhaps because of where it happened in the story, we