{"id":2636,"date":"2021-04-30T07:17:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T07:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2022-11-29T06:28:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T06:28:26","slug":"this-genuine-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/30\/this-genuine-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Artshub | This Genuine Moment by La Mama \/ Midsumma"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"This\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

There have been endless coming out stories in the last few years across theatre and television.<\/p>

How can another one stand out? Is it a timeless narrative forever valid to audiences or a tired trope with more vital terrain of the queer experience left to explore?<\/p>

This Genuine Moment<\/em>, presented La Mama and Rock Bottom Productions as part of Midsumma Festival, doesn\u2019t ask this. Instead, it looks to the periphery, gazing toward the reciprocal act of opening up and listening.<\/p>

Riley (Tom Dawson) and Louis (Ilai Swindells) wake up in bed together on Christmas Eve after drunkenly meeting the night before. For the remainder of the show, the stranger-lovers chat in Riley\u2019s bedroom about their lives, flaying their bodies across his mattress this way or that.<\/p>

Their conversation is dorky yet fluid with Jacob Parker\u2019s writing bringing a gentle touch carried with monumental effort by the two leads. With their quiet pillow-talk, Riley and Louis\u00a0connect via raw stories filled with cynicism and hope about their histories and futures. They listen to each other.<\/p>

The production floats, swaying above deep waters. The pair\u2019s dialogue naturally ebbs and flows with little else plot-wise happening, sans checking their phones. This one-scene approach, while ambitious, lacks oomph.<\/p>

Are the characters groggy from their night out, are the actors emulating a shyness between two strangers attempting intimate conversation? It\u2019s unclear whether this slowness is deliberate or what the intent is, if there is one.<\/p>

The result is a humdrum, steady tension building a loose, dreamy mood. Their playful quiffs hover above substance, more serious notes don\u2019t say anything new, but then something sensitive will slip.<\/p>

Even so, there\u2019s not always a commitment to launch entirely into a \u2018big topic\u2019 or tap into its gravitas. But such is the way of wandering conversations in real life.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"This\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

This Genuine Moment<\/i> takes current halfway\nthrough, with its comfortable approach bearing fruit to the universality of its\nthemes. The production embeds a homely, safe calm through a tactile quality as\nthe actors touch and tug soft fabrics – undies, socks, hoodies, sheets. Riley\nand Louis are strangers to each other but not to the audience. The bedroom set,\nthe young queer characters and their sticky feelings are so familiar.<\/o:p><\/p>

With this intimacy, Riley and Louis\u2019 twilight moment between\nnight and day in the private bedroom releases the pressures of time and place.\nSuch stillness gives room to remarkable character development. Within this\nfrozen time, Dawson and Swindells\u2019 portrayal of their characters\u2019 vulnerability\nexposes contrasts that could have been lost in a busier play: rejection and\nembrace, pain and joy, honesty and protection.<\/o:p><\/p>

In this, This Genuine Moment<\/i> might not be\nas simple as it seems: with fear of humiliation, queer identity is underpinned\nby caution. Their tempered confessions speak widely to the anxieties of queer\nself-love and relationships. Such understated purgatory produces a sense of\npining in conflict with the production\u2019s familiarity and ease. With this\ncraving, This Genuine Moment<\/i> pulls you in the orbit of Riley\nand Louis\u2019 conversation as they take clumsy steps to embrace emotional\ntransparency with themselves and others.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Theatre review:\u00a0This Genuine Moment (La Mama Courthouse).\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead Tahney's writing<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Genuine Moment holds you in the orbit of Riley and Louis\u2019 conversation as they take clumsy steps to embrace emotional transparency with themselves and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,14,359],"tags":[430,431,306,240,428,294,432,429],"class_list":["post-2636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","category-reviews","category-writing","tag-ilai-swindells","tag-jacob-parker","tag-la-mama-theatre","tag-midsumma-festival","tag-queer-theatre","tag-theatre","tag-this-genuine-moment-review","tag-tom-dawson"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/The_Genuine_Moment_Darren_Gill-7503.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Pso7-Gw","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2636"}],"version-history":[{"count":75,"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5585,"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions\/5585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tahneyalexandramay.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}