Love Stories, Then and Now
In the decades prior to the 1960's or thereabouts, homosexuality was referred to as, "The love that dare not speak its name". Nowadays homosexuality has become, "The love that never shuts up". Given that there are only a handful of basic plots that have been endlessly recycled for thousands of years, the 'love story' - straight, gay, or vegetable, has been employed quite a bit. But, as with any story, love or otherwise, if you are not bringing something new to the telling - don't bother, or be prepared for some constructive criticism.
A Promising Start That Falters
It pains me to say that God's Cowboy is one such case. I wanted to like it; on paper it seemed promising, with a cast, some of whom I was familiar with and knew to be talented. It started well: Peter (Nathaniel Savy), a musical theatre tragic, enters and performs an elegant balletic piece to the music of "If I Loved You", from the musical Carousel. He and twin sister Penny (Sophia Laurantus), then address the audience, introducing themselves and outlining the essence of the plot. So far so not bad, however it soons starts to go off the rails in a series of cliched, contrived & confusing encounters between the characters.
“Just Saying Words”
In a scene from the recent film "Hamnet", Shakespeare is rehearsing the "Get thee to a nunnery" confrontation between Hamlet and Ophelia. He keeps telling the actor to do it again, and again, and again. Finally he erupts in anger, "You are just saying words", he yells. There was a lot of "just saying words" in G.C., and finger pointing. The actors deliver their lines with energy, but volume should not be confused with true passion.
Trying desperately to communicate sincerity, their performances were 'performative'. Doubtless that sounds like a dumb criticism. "Aren't performances 'performative' by definition?" Well, no they're not. We don't want acting with a capital A; performances should be grounded in reality, authentic, unfold before us in such an honest way that we can't help but believe the truth of what we are seeing.
However, there was little opportunity for us to find that connection here. It wasn't that the actors were bad - they weren't. There were moments of genuine emotional honesty - in the love scenes between Max Fernandez's Daniel & Savy's Peter, or sibling affection between Peter and Penny, but they remained flashes, and for the most part we were left watching talented young actors groping in the dark for something to hold onto.
The Script: Too Many Cooks
Why was it so? In a word - the script. Les Soloman says it is a play he has "mostly" written, "because so much of the words & thoughts ... have been contributed by young actors with whom I work or have worked". Therein lies the problem, I believe. Too many cooks.
The play lacks structure, forward momentum - each scene is like the last. There are no 'stakes', nobody has anything to risk, therefore there is no, or very little, dramatic tension. Characters lack an emotional arc, e.g. Demetrious (Tate Wilkinson-Alexander): his Iago-like malevolence is never adequately explained. It's there at the beginning, and there at the end - unchanged, unmotivated, unbelievable.
Despite shocking "revelations" the script doesn't dig deeper - everything remains on the surface, consequently the big emotional moments don't resonate with us. They feel contrived, imposed, not earned, therefore they don't matter.
Mise-en-Scène Misfires
Neither is the play well served by mise-en-scene: a set full of props that never get used (books, bottles of alcohol), actors dressed in black occupying a black box (they fade into the background) or dressed in fire-engine red so they pull the visual focus, sledgehammer lighting effects.
And why, in the intimate space of the Flight Path Theatre, were the actors miked, especially when they spend so much time with their shirts off, revealing the wires?
In a Post–Brokeback World
We live in a post-Brokeback Mountain/Call Me By Your Name world, where every second Netflix movie is about a mismatched gay couple looking for love and having a lot of sex along the way. You only have to turn on the television to be confronted with larger than life, hi-def male arses - White Lotus, Heated Rivalry, the list is endless.
So, if you're going down that path, you'd better be doing & saying something different, bold, original - some semi-nudity, a bit of male on male action (kissing), constant swearing & a rumination on "cock" is not enough.
Final Thoughts
It's clear that all involved with this production have their hearts in the right place, and it has its moments, but they don't coalesce into a meaningful whole. At the end we are left asking ourselves, "What was it all about?" 2.5 stars.
God's Cowboy is playing at the Flight Path Theatre, Marrickville till February 21 2026
Reviewed by: Nick Bennett