Berto_Tony_201307_PhD .pdf - University of Guelph

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than being made overt in the text. MacIvor references his characters’ sexuality in his text,
but he couches many of these references in metaphor and turns of phrase. The play’s gay
romance potentially illustrates homosexual history by contextualising the lives of the lovers
in a historical moment and particular culture. However, the play’s conditions of production
and reception further reduce the visibility of this narrative, a story of a failing gay
relationship; instead these conditions draw focus to a reading of Williams’s legacy as a
product of his troubled genius. Thus, while MacIvor’s dramaturgical strategy allows an
audience to experience a gay love story and presume to see a biographical drama, elements
of the production underscore only the latter. As a result the elements of both the text and the
entire theatre experience operate to reduce the visibility of the gay relationships, and
particularly the sexual aspects of these relationships, in the play. In this chapter I initially
explore the play's text, illustrating how the script emphasises a reading of a gay relationship
rather than a biography of a theatrical figure. I also illustrate how MacIvor’s text lessens the
visibility of the characters’ sexuality though his use of language and his narrative
exposition. I then look to the conditions of production and reception of the play's
performance, and argue that these further lessen the visibility of the both gay themes and
gay sexuality in the text and instead draw attention towards the theatrical legacy of
Williams's creative output.
His Greatness Text: Gay Play or Theatrical Biography?
Whether an audience sees His Greatness framed as more a story of a gay
relationship or as a historical biography likely influences their reception of the play’s gay
themes. MacIvor’s foreword to the play’s text reveals how he sees the play’s focus. In his
foreword he reveals the text as being more about himself than Williams. MacIvor