A Strange Loop
I am still processing and it’s going to take a while to get my thoughts properly in order but this was an impressive night out at the theatre. A musical about a queer Black writer writing a musical about a queer Black writer writing a musical … etc. Layers upon layers of ideas about identity, sex, sexual politics, internalised and external racism and homophobia, family, and religious bigotry integrated into a meta musical about musicals. A small cast of ‘Usher’ and his ‘thoughts’ who populate his internal monologue (and play all of the other characters) have a big impact, with fab performances and choreography and big production values as Usher writes and rewrites his musical to try to reflect what it is like being him. I didn’t get all the references, not being a Black American, queer man or a musicals aficionado but honestly it really didn’t matter at all. The title comes from a theory by Douglas Hofstadter (a prizewinning US scientist) ...