DV8 Physical Theatre

MSM

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Press Release 

written in 1993

MSM is a sociological term that was created to refer to men who have sex with men in public toilets, colloquialy referred to as cottaging. The term was coined because many of the men involved refuse to identify themselves as gay despite their activities. In fact it is mainly men who describe themselves as heterosexual who seek out sex in this way.

"..... one might have expected that men indulging in anonymous sexual exchanges in lavatories would prove to be lonely, socially alienated, unmarried, and possibly ageing homosexuals. In fact it appears that the majority were married and predominantly heterosexual." Laud Humphreys, Tearoom Trade

This new work from DV8 returns to the subject of male sexuality and looks at what it is that gives rise to the need for sex characterised by chance encounters, anonymity and the possibility of arrest or violence.
The piece will act as a mirror to a wider world where we all have hidden secrets, where we all discriminate against others. It will be a place where private fantasies are enacted, fantasies which often reveal too much about ourselves. It will look at our desire to step outside the boundaries of society, to risk situations loaded with danger and fear in order to keep feeling alive.

Members of DV8 interviewed 50 men of different ages, backgrounds and sexualities, investigating their desires, fantasies and realities. The fear and liberation, the violence laced with sexual immediacy, the complicated emotional reactions so far revealed by this research all point to a dense psychological work.

Devised by Lloyd Newson with an exciting new company of male performers, MSM will further extend DV8's use of language and its relationship to movement.

(extract)

 

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