Reading week 6

Reading – Week 6

Bonney, J. (2000). Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century. New York: Theatre Communications Group.

TIM MILLER

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Miller has a history of political activism, but his performance is about gay rights and autobiographical social struggle for identity as a gay man, and how society sees him, how he conforms to or denies this social identity he has been given. His work is aimed at marginalized people, students, gay men etc. His work is highly interactive and uncovers the violence that is inflicted upon gay men, and the violence which gay men inflict upon themselves. He looks at the conflict between how he portrays himself and how society says he should be portrayed. He connects to his audience through his body.

Spilt Milk

This piece is about Miller looking back at the time when he was 19, and decided to travel to San Francisco to explore his independence as a gay man in society. The piece is funny, sad, shocking and very descriptive. He sets up the autobiographical story with dates, times, places etc and continues with amusing sidelines and political statements. He discusses the vulnerability of hitch-hiking, the pressure he felt as a child of parents who fought in the hippie/antiwar/cultural revolution ten years ago. He discusses his self doubt and the potential for homosexual change, and the sense of a potential utopia around the corner. He tells us of a utopian farm he attended, which turned out to be a sect/cult that he did not belong to. Broccoli is used as a comic theme that crops up as his life in San Francisco develops. He compares the utopian farm to a Nazi death camp, and it is both humorous and terrifying. He discusses his choice to go to the farm as a bad one. He piece is sexually explicit, it mocks society, law, religion and the people he hitch-hikes with. He knows, as a gay man, he is on the margins of society, and feels good being at the literal edge, on a beach, where he meets Michael. The piece ends in a dark and twisted manner, his dreams are dashed when he finds out the gay politician whom he had rested his hopes on had been murdered. His utopian society has been crushed and put back a few years.