Pleasance, Edinburgh, 27 August 2009, and touring

DID SOMEONE put something in the Ayrshire water 30 years ago? How else to explain the glut of young playwrights from the area who all have a hang-up about their teenage years?

Johnny McKnight

First on the scene was Douglas Maxwell who, in plays such as Decky Does a Bronco, Our Bad Magnet and If Destroyed True, has returned repeatedly to his small town adolescence. Snapping at his heels is Daniel Jackson whose The Wall and The Ducky have added to the sub-genre of Ayrshire teen comedy.

And here, reviving a show first seen in 2007, is Johnny McKnight with Little Johnny’s Big Gay Musical, telling an autobiographical tale of sports days, embarrassing medical complaints and teenage sexual awakening in Ardrossan.

McKnight is his own man, however, and the comparisons with Maxwell and Jackson stop there – unless, of course, you want to include the gift all three of them share for razor sharp comedy. As the title suggests, Little Johnny’s Big Gay Musical is an extravagant, Broadway-style song-and-dance show – or at least, it would be if there was more than McKnight, backing singer Natalie Toyne and an excellent three-piece band on stage in this Random Accomplice production.

Arriving in nappies and gradually getting dressed to the full top hat and tails, McKnight describes his journey of self-discovery, learning from bad experiences with girls – and learning more from bad experiences with men.

This is hardly the first gay show to make reference to iconic Broadway musicals such as The Wizard of Oz, Chicago and Cabaret, but McKnight cleverly upturns expectations by refusing to sentimentalise those shows. He has to find his own voice, even if it means rejecting that legacy, although it’s clear that he basks in the romantic song-and-dance tradition.

He’s also very good at it. In between fast-talking monologues of ribald comedy, he proves himself an all-round showman, confidently tackling the songs by keyboard player Karen MacIver as well as the moves by choreographer Julie Brown. It’s his combination of charm, talent and self-deprecating wit that makes such an enjoyable show out of material that could so easily have come across as indulgent.

Better still, he has created a play about coming out that communicates to more than just a gay audience thanks to its Ugly Duckling trajectory and infectious sense of humour.

Little Johnny’s Big Gay Musical is at the OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, on 18-19 September 2009)

© Mark Fisher, 2009

Links

• Random Accomplice
• Mark Fisher’s Scottish Theatre Blog