Fully titled Joyfully Grimm: Reimagining a Queer Adolescence, playwright, poet and storyteller James Stedman played his show to a delighted audience in the Netherbow Theatre. Accompanied by a large, and rather grumpy stuffed frog, the show elegantly combined elements of storytelling, and autobiographical theatre.
James grew up through the era of Section 28, that nefarious piece of legislation which prohibited ‘promoting homosexuality’ between 1988 and 2000/2003. The resulting environment didn’t so much push an adolescent James into the closet, as try to slam the doors and seal up the cracks. Fortunately, that conservative legislation would ultimately fall, but not before heaping trauma upon trauma on James, and many, many more.
Joyfully Grim, directed by Molly Naylor, takes James’s own story and uses it to tell a history of that time, intertwining this with a serialised telling of the Grimm’s “The Frog Prince.” The show was both well-conceived and well-produced, creating a natural cadence and relationship between story and autobiography. This rhythm faltered a touch in the pre-finale section, but overall there’s much to admire.
The development of all strands of storytelling was handled well, and taking the original fate of the frog – not kissed, but thrown at a wall – and using it as a gateway to unconscious dreams of other stories, proved rather clever. Stedman is a winning performer, and if his skill set is more geared towards live poetry and theatre, he handled the folk tales well. What he lacks in the experienced bard’s instinct for pace and emphasis he makes up for with clarity, passion, and clear intent.
Open, warm, funny, and self-deprecating, James Stedman won the audience’s affection and attention early in Joyfully Grimm. Entering in prince’s garb, he reverted to civvies when recalling his doomed attempts at being so-called ‘normal’. The reclaiming of that heroic blue attire made a simple, but effective emblem of his, and the LGBTQI+ community’s rightful place in the stories society tells itself.
When James, under Naylor’s finely judged direction, pulled both strands of his show together to close, the effect was uplifting and enlightening. Indeed queer narratives can be found in tales as old as humanity, and if they have suffered beneath centuries of heteronormative pressure, they remain. Plus, stories depicting the power of diverse relationships, and inclusive thinking abound throughout the various canons as James ably demonstrated.
Opening and closing with a witty, and hilarious anthem calling for queer inclusive storytelling, Stedman won’t be booking a musical anytime soon, but if he continues to play to storytelling crowds, he will alter minds for the better.
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