Review by Lucy Holz
The perfect concept for a fringe show, this act is exactly as advertised. Kit Sinclair is presenting a show all about coming out, but not just any coming out, doing it when you’re 30. Deeply personal and extremely intimate, Sinclair has created a work all about their relationship to queerness.
Advertised with the provocative image of Sinclair fingering a piece of citrus, the audience has a good idea of the kind of antics this show will include. Sinclair begins their show attempting to embody all the qualities of the perfect housewife, before succumbing to their lesbian fantasy.
An hour of intimate storytelling, Sinclair recounts a dramatised version of their coming out story. Beginning with the disintegration of their marriage and the difficulty of admitting they’re a lesbian, the audience comes along on the journey of entering the queer world at 30.
Sinclair aims to capture a more inclusive queer experience through the incorporation of other lesbians and their stories. The show is punctuated by audio excerpts from a diverse range of voices, successfully relating the personal to the universal.
The entire show is captioned, with two screens hanging behind the stage. The clips from other lesbians involve their dialogue appearing on the screen, often with both us and Sinclair watching their words together. This experience could have been elevated by using captioned video clips rather than just text, as these moments do serve to de-energise the show.
This act is at its strongest during moments of physical theatre, with Sinclair performing a transformative strip tease that generates plenty of whoops from the audience. A frenzied scene of fruit squeezing in which they enthusiastically perform cunnilingus on an orange is another crowd favourite.
Sinclair closes the show with a heartfelt direct address, breaking any kind of character to tell the audience the truth about their life now. This gives the piece a formal closure and is a neat and concise way to end the show.
Coming out is a terrifying experience, with perhaps the only thing more difficult being making it into a one-person show. Sinclair’s vulnerability is admirable and their show highly entertaining, a must see for lesbians and those who love them.
Image Supplied