Binning those stereotypes

TALK TIME: EOIN BUTLERtalks to Brian Merriman, Artistic director if the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival.

This is the sixth year of the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. Congratulations.

That’s right. I had the idea to mark the 150th anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s birth in 2004. Looking at the history of gay Irish theatre, there was Wilde, Edwards and MacLíammóir . . . But all those countless other people were nowhere to be seen. I didn’t want the next century to pass like that. We’ve notched up our 1,000th performance this year.

T here's already a Dublin Theatre Festival. Why was it important to have a specifically gay festival?

In the same way that it’s important to showcase Irish theatre on an international stage, it’s also important to showcase gay theatre within Ireland. When there’s a negative stereotype about a particular group of people, it’s easy to erase the positive contribution they make to society. There is no visible history of gay people in theatre, even though we know that theatre was one of the very few safe environments for creative people to go through over the centuries. So we are trying in some small way to address that imbalance.

The city certainly seems to be behind the event.

The city has been fantastic, there’s no doubt about that. Dublin City Council and Dublin Tourism have been terrific. The only problem we’ve faced would have been poor resourcing from the arts bodies. I hope we have brought them on a journey where they now recognise the high standard of what we’re doing, and the importance of having space to do it.

What are the highlights on this year’s programme?

There are about 40 plays and productions from all over the world. There's a showing of Frank McGuinness's The Bird Sanctuary. We have a women's programme, a young people's programme, a programme dealing with homophobia in the education system and one dealing with gay historical figures, such as Wilde and Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky never identified himself as being gay. Have you been able to reclaim any figures from Irish history? Patrick Pearse maybe?

Well, Dublin loves Handel's Messiahand Handel was gay. There are lots of other examples. Countess Markiewicz's sister Eva Gore Booth was in an openly lesbian relationship in London at the time of the Rising. In 1916, she did something just as revolutionary as her sister did. She published The Lesbian Herald. Of course, you won't hear about that in Lissadell.

Edwards and MacLíammóir were an interesting couple.

They were, but they were English. I think that helped them a lot. MacLíammóir was an inventor and a fantasist, so I think his homosexuality was just taken as an eccentricity. When President Hillery went to MacLíammóir’s funeral he expressed sympathy to Edwards on the loss of his partner, but he could as easily have meant a business associate.

Is there a political element to the festival or do you shy away from that?

Absolutely there is. Theatre is inherently political. It’s a forum in which issues are discussed and examined in a safe environment. In a society which does not give equal rights to gay people, it is very important for us to have the cultural confidence to present our culture as it is. Just as our forefathers used theatre to promote the cause of Irish freedom, we should use it as a platform to promote equal rights for gay people.

When I interviewed members of Gloria: Dublin’s Gay and Lesbian Choir, they said when they perform outside of Dublin, the “Gay and Lesbian” bit often disappears from their billing.

What’s very important about the gay theatre festival is that we don’t communicate via code – such as the Pride flag or anything like that. We’re promoting this as a Gay Theatre Festival, with a great sense of confidence, a sense of welcome. We are not apologising. Here’s our contribution to society: if you are disposed to come and share the theatrical experience, you’re very welcome.

Finally, is gay marriage now “the” issue?

Well, it’s an important issue, obviously. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to come about. They’re talking about civil partnership, which is a huge concern. There’s also the discrimination suffered by people because of negative stereotypes. At the moment gay people are defined by stereotypes – hairdressers, trolley dollies and theatre people. What the festival is doing is saying, “Here we are, warts and all”. Here’s thinking, here’s writing from around the world. We’re not afraid to examine any issue.

The Absolut Dublin Gay Theatre Festival runs until

May 17th