Review: RIOT ACT, King's Head Theatre

After his sold-out Sex/Crime (The Glory), Alexis Gregory presents the verbatim Riot Act, directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair. Written especially for King's Head Theatre's Queer Season, the piece explores the role of Stonewall, queer history, activism, drag queens, and loss in three gut-wrenching monologues born out of interviews with Michael-Anthony Nozzi, Lavinia Co-op, and Paul Burston.

Their stories come alive with Gregory, who transports the crowd to the night when "the gays started fighting back" at Stonewall and through the AIDS crisis; he spans gay culture with wit and natural flamboyancy, becoming his own personal version of the three interviewees. He depicts the pain of being an outcast but finds solace in finding himself in a community that's always been as diverse and inclusive as it gets.

Activism and the need for it is at the centre of the show: he delineates the importance of what the previous generations have done and underlines the growing complacency of the younger crowds. However, Gregory is never preachy. The arid backdrop whence the first riots were born - as painted very vividly by him - makes the audience appreciate the present.

He also doesn't go easy on the gay community itself, pinpointing the bitter aftermath of the AIDS crisis of the 80s: he points out that too many homosexual men were embarrassed by their own ill and shunned them away because they went against their ideals of youth and beauty.

In a brief but heartfelt moment in the third part, he calls attention to the often overlooked role that the lesbian community had and wonders if the men would have done the same, were the positions swapped. Common ground of all three monologues is the pivotal stage that were the Stonewall riots.

Told in the words of Nozzi, who was present when the first one broke, he strays away from teaching a mere history lesson. Gregory puts the details into Stonewall: from the blood-soaked coins on the pavement to the Judy Garland film that was about to be shown, he succeeds in making it a universal experience.

Presented stripped down to the limit and with minimal costume changes between the monologues, Riot Act is an eye-opening punch to the gut. Gregory's work is not only commendable, as queer history is too rarely taught and considered, but achieves ambitious levels of storytelling.

Riot Act is running at King's Head Theatre until 5 August.

Photo credit: Dawson James