QUEEN OF THE NIGHT by Travis Tate at Victory Gardens Theatre.
Tennessee Williams made his macho father a picture on the wall in his autobiographical play THE GLASS MENAGERIE. At that stage of his life, he wasn't ready to deal with his relationship with the man who called him "Miss Nancy." A decade later, he created Bib Daddy Pollit in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, a tough plantation owner who has no problem with homosexuality. The plantation itself was a legacy from a gay couple. William Inge painted a picture of his troubled relationship with his father in THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS. Williams and Inge were gay men at a time when homosexuality was locked away in a very dark closet (Inge titled his gayest play THE TINY CLOSET). I don't feel comfortable discussing issues of Black masculinity in a culture that has kept Black men down since the first supposedly Christian slave-owning settlers came to this country. This complicated subject is the core of Travis Tate's QUEEN OF THE NIGHT, but the play resonates beyond specific issues of Black masculinity.
A father and son go on a camping trip in East Texas. For Stephen the father, the masculine ritual is an opportunity to bond with his estranged son, a queer college student. Ty, the son who has felt the weight of his father's disapproval all his life, has come to vent his anger and hatred. Stephen has gotten over whatever problem he had with his son's sexual orientation and wants to express his love. Over the course of a weekend, Ty airs his grievances but also realizes that he loves and needs his father. We hear that there is an older son, a successful lawyer about to be married, who may not be so easily won over.
Travis Tate knows how to write convincing dialogue and is a master at alternating serious and comic moments. However, he so wants his audience to like his characters that he is light on dramatic conflict. We are told that Stephen was a harsh disciplinarian who drove his sons mercilessly, but we only see a nice guy who wants his son to like him. The side that Ty is railing against is never seen in the play and his long festering rage is too easily dissipated. There are flashes of conflict but they quickly disappear. QUEEN OF THE NIGHT is enjoyable, but there doesn't isn't enough conflict to sustain the play's eighty minutes. We need to see some reappearance of the father that inspired his sons' rage.
The production values couldn't be better. Sydney Lynne's atmospheric woodland set offers the perfect background for the action, enhanced by Connor Sale's lighting. Ken-Matt Martin's staging balances realism with just enough stylization to support Tate's sometimes poetic language. I liked the way he had Ty try to keep his distance from his father. André Teamer and Terry Guest partner effectively as father and son. If only the playwright had made their conflict a bit more dangerous.
