Review: The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac

The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac
Sydney Festival
The Studio, Sydney Opera House - 19 January 2007


To get to the Sydney Opera House for a 'performance art' drag piece by American Taylor Mac, I happened to walk past the Hon. Brendon Nelson, Australian Minister for Defence, having a late night Chinese supper around a lazy susan.

It was slightly surreal. The sun was setting over Sydney Harbour on a warm summer evening, and my mind flickered as I looked at the honourable member thinking of his department's woes in that little theatre of war in the Middle East.

"Enjoying your dinner Minister?"

The surreal then became a little more strange as I took my seat to watch Taylor Mac dress and 'deconstruct' his take on the War on Terror.

I wish that the Minister had been there, sharing this experience among the hearty crowd that guffawed and applauded the beautiful cynicism of the show.

Everything that Taylor Mac does in his show has the aim to break conventions of theatre performance and political satire. He isn't your typical Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Perfect eyeshadow and makeup is replaced by clown like lines and layers of glitter. Immaculate frocks are replaced by misfitting outfits, put on backwards, upside down and inside out. Oh, and he sings his own songs. He's more Jack Smith than Liza Minnelli.

If the minister had had the proper advice, he could have been there to see what is obviously the direct result of what happens to a person when their country is up to their neck in violence and extremism. A country where influential groups actively protest against abortion and homosexuality and yet gleefully support war and the death penalty. It really is mind-boggling.

As much as Taylor Mac made jokes about unattended baggage, terror alerts and the Iraq War, it is obvious that the position that the US finds itself is taking its toll on its more moderate citizens. Even an intelligent and charming performer like Taylor Mac.

His last song 'There is nothing to fear, but fear itself' wrapped up a show which could be seen as a call of desperation. A protest which demands some sense in a world that feels as though it is spinning out of control. The Beast of Taylor Mac may very well be called the Beast of Burden of Taylor Mac.




Photo Credit: Prudence Upton, courtesy of the Sydney Festival