Expressing Extreme Wisdom Through Humor and Self-Mocking.
It is often said that, unlike Protestants, Jews and Catholics looooove jokes about themselves, the craziness of their culture, their religion, their semi-pagan rituals, their theology and their sense of “otherness”. Descended from German Jewish refugees, Dominic Holden, a gay Catholic, albeit of the post-Vatican II generation, proves this statement to the n-th degree.
Holden is the associate editor of The Stranger, one of Seattle’s weekly magazines, which generally speaks to the younger left leaning generation, but often surprises everybody by not adhering to the prevailing bleeding heart liberal orthodoxy and has often published articles shocking the uncritical left as much as the religious right.
Talking Sh*t, recounted Holden’s journalistic experiences with anti-gay opponents of both the 2009 Washington State Domestic Partnership Law and the 2012 Marriage Equality Law. His attitude was basically that of taking-no-prisoners, as he re-enacted his interviews with hypocritical Christian pastors, a heterosexual defender of marriage, between a man and women, who had been convicted of domestic violence against more than one wife, and one WA State Rep. Interspersed with his interviews with the Christians, are events from his childhood and adult life, which were hilarious.
One person he really did not spare, in his take-no-prisoners attitude, was himself, as he revealed, that he was indeed, not exactly a “virtuous” gay man, ready, willing or able to settle down monogamously and raise a family in imitation of hetero-normative values.
One of the funniest parts of the evening is when he recounted the various retaliatory boycotts which both the Christian Right and the Gay community have mounted against their opponents. The Christians tried to boycott Starbucks; the Gays tried to boycott Stoli vodka; and he ends up on a note of optimistic tolerance embracing the absurdity of both sides.
Holden’s performing skills were superb, he is endowed with a commanding voice, stage presence, incredible comic timing, and the script was everything one would expect from this talented writer.
The show is already sold out, however, it is worth standing in line for no-shows, and he really wasn’t talking «merde»
Talking Sh*t. by Dominic Holden Washington Ensemble Theatre 609 19th Ave E. Capitol Hill. Seattle, Ends Sunday April 27, 7:30.