| Marginalization breeds culture. Do the recent advances in the LGBT civil rights movement portend the death of certain kinds of singular expressions? More precisely, where marriage equality is concerned, is the new freedom from legalized oppression the ironic end of what used to be called gay liberation? Behind its cheery, boozy mask, this is the subject of BRIGHT LIGHTS AND BOLD PATTERNS. And it's an interesting one. The humor here--scathing, of course--gives way to a degree of sadness that suggests inclusion may have a downside. Funny as it is--Drew Droege nails what is arguably a minstrelsy gay archetype--the play is rightly overcome by the rage and sorrow that informs this kind of humor. There are, finally, two sources of grief depicted here: woe for the harms caused by the past suffering and for the present freedom and its attendant losses. BRIGHT LIGHTS AND BOLD PATTERNS is a prototypical laugh riot; it's strife that makes it funny. |
