When a show advertises itself as involving ‘heavy music, headbanging and a smidgen of angst-ridden poetry’, it does not sell itself well to a punter like myself, especially as I am timid enough when it comes to dance and physical theatre. However, Tara Cheyenne blows any reservations out of the water the moment she pulls on military wear like she is having an orgasm, dives into her opening monologue. With a speech about the pointlessness of caring about gender appropriation, and the arbitrariness of gender as a whole she weaves such clever logic I do not want to spoil it for you; instead I urge you to see it for yourself.
Tara’s character is that of the awkward military-garbed metalhead we all knew at school. Even through the American accents and high school tropes one can see the familiar boy, the one with an intense knowledge of military history and a penchant for violent video games. As well as sometimes poking fun at this fantastical world of fetishism for violence and loud noises, this is a performance loaded with pathos. The man Tara plays with impossibly accurate physicality is one we care for deeply as a misunderstood and lonely youth, juxtaposed with an older man who is equally lonely and equally zany.
This second male character is the show’s biggest flaw. Although barely in it, and utterly hilarious, he seems rather pointless to the whole occasion, not a genuine addition to the piece. But the rest of the show is so brilliant it does not matter. The movement has the awkward grace of Bob Fosse, and in the pounding heavy metal score and corny Van Halen lighting and smoke machines, we find meditation and power in the music of the boy’s life. Within the sound that pounds in his head there is the strength he lacks in his everyday life, and something is unlocked for us in the otherwise often difficult to appreciate genre.
The entire show is beautifully constructed and incredibly subtle with a long-lingering and well thought out message about the young male condition. Where a play about masculinity and the crises therein could become hackneyed, every word and every move is fresh. Tara Cheyenne gives off the impression of having the vim and passion of an American Kathryn Hunter, and I long to see her develop and perfect her craft in future work.
