Paper Mug Theatre’s Con-Version is a hauntingly, ferociously, efficient have a look at queer conversion remedy at VAULT Festival
“Family is simply one other phrase for love. People don’t suppose you possibly can select both one. What do you suppose?“
It beggars perception that the dialog about queer conversion remedy continues to be one which looms so massive in our society, a current SNP chief debate throwing up clearly how regressive some political considering stays (disgrace on you, Kate Forbes). But whereas I’ll have been naïve about this, playwright Rory Thomas-Howes is clearly alive to its ongoing risks, as evidenced in Con-Version, a deeply considerate and scrupulously well-researched exploration of the way it can shatter households.
Son is returning dwelling after being despatched for a yr of conversion remedy by Mother and Father. Summoned again beneath false pretences by Sister, the homecoming ends shortly and unhappily however all just isn’t what it appears, it actually isn’t in any respect, because the scene will get replayed, solely this time Son has introduced Fiancée with him and issues play out otherwise. Over the course of the hour, completely different variations of occasions regularly play out, calling into query the very nature of reality and whether or not we are able to create our personal.
Sam Edmunds’ manufacturing for Paper Mug Theatre is ferociously good, extremely theatrical in its presentation and thus profoundly affecting. Ben Garcia’s lighting and Matteo Depares’ sound work are amongst a few of the greatest I’ve seen throughout the entire VAULT Festival in the best way they evoke the f*cked-up house/time continuum right here, hitting that time within the intestine that simply makes you’re feeling it a lot extra. And Lulu Tam’s set design creates the perfect fluid enjoying house during which the play unfolds, ceaselessly creating some haunting imagery (these stockinged faces!).
Thomas-Howes intently examines the necessity that individuals have to regulate the narrative, not just for themselves however for others too, however what’s most exceptional right here is the playfulness with which Con-Version offers with that. An excellent instance is a dinner desk scene which will get replayed in a number of methods – as melodrama, in silent-movie model, as a reside sitcom, echoes of Wandavision including to the extraordinary impression that this manufacturing and its decisions deliver, even because it errs maybe a little bit near over-complex in its scattering of the puzzle items of its narrative.
The energy dynamics round notions of management are powerfully embodied within the forged although. Elan Butler and Ruth Redman as Son and Mother respectively supply up a near-elemental battle, usually disguised within the undercurrents of their pass-ag-heavy dialogue however heart-wrenching within the diametric opposition of understanding ‘what’s greatest’. Alex Britt’s Neighbour’s Boy and Phoebe Ellabani’s Fiancée distinction nicely of their differing pulls on Son, providing emotional throughlines that go away us in little question as to the pernicious results of conversion remedy, not simply on queer folks however on those that would search to regulate them.