Gayboys
by Craig Manson
In this cheeky, irreverent dissection of modern cis white gay male identity, two gay men pose for a camera as their simultaneous enthusiasm and bewilderment for what they're doing gives way to a growing physical dialogue. Like a pair of Adonis', they flow from one statuesque image to the other; they sigh and a pout and seductively perform for their viewers; they lay around, bored on their phones, waiting for something to happen. But who is it all really for?
Words from Craig Manson
Gayboys is an absolutely hilarious show by Craig Manson and his co-performer Conner Milliken. It was originally conceived as a choreographic live art piece which was due to premiere at Platform in Easterhouse in April 2020. Towards the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, at which time I was primarily creating marketing assets for shows, we created three images and a trailer for the show. As I was about to create the poster and flyer and trailer designs for the performance in April, off we went into lockdown.
Making the trailer was quite a fun process. We used the three key show images to motivate the choreography, and they are deadpan, moving only at the call of a Grindr notification, quite in-keeping with the live performance. Craig and I had a foley recording session afterwards to get those quite crisp sounds - I think one of my “~ ugh ~” noises actually feature in the cut.
They went on to perform a more developed version of the show in the Dance International Glasgow festival at Tramway in 2021, and were selected for the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Made in Scotland showcase, performing for a fortnight at Summerhall.
An excerpt from the credits of the film version of GAYBOYS we made during COVID.
Instagram trailer for GAYBOYS Made In Scotland Showcase run at Summerhall for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022.
GAYBOYS Trailer for the preview at Tramway ahead of the Made In Scotland Showcase run at Summerhall for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022.
When it finally started to become apparent that COVID wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, and with filming activity permitted in the UK, we created an adapted version of the work for film which was presented on Tramway TV (Zoom and Instagram) at the beginning of 2021.
Later in 2021, the work finally had its live moment as part of Dance International Glasgow festival at Tramway.
Created and performed by Craig Manson
In collaboration with co-performer Conner Milliken
Produced by Katy Dye (live show)
Lighting and Set Design by MHz (Bex Anson & Dav Bernard) (live show)
Soundtrack Mark Readhead (film credits)
Dramaturg Theo Seddon
Supported using National Lottery funds by Creative Scotland and Tramway.
