THEATER
Greek To Me
In “The Hang,” Taylor Mac imagines Socrates pondering virtue in his fi nal hours
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
Taylor Mac delights in
blasting convention.
The gender-elusive performance
artist insists
being referred to as “judy” in place
of standard pronouns. In a manifesto
in the program for Mac’s latest
show, “The Hang,” judy declares
that this pronoun choice is an “art
piece” that’s at once “delicious” and
“annoying” to navigate.
The same might be said of “The
Hang,” now playing at HERE Off
Broadway. Mac’s bold, queer-centric,
genre-mashing aesthetic is on
full display, and it’s as confounding
as it is exhilarating.
On a macro level, “The Hang”
is a jazz opera that imagines the
Greek philosopher Socrates contemplating
the vagaries of virtue in
his fi nal hours, as fi ltered through
the jaundiced writings of Plato (no
texts by Socrates exist).
When Socrates was sentenced
to death after being convicted of
heresy and corrupting Athenian
male youths, he ingested poisonous
Hemlock. The opera portrays
a kind of fever dream as the poison
slowly shuts down his bodily functions
one by one. His addled brain
is the last to go.
With a book and lyrics by Mac,
the piece eschews traditional plot
or formal structure. It’s a crazyquilt
of music, verse, ideas, and
musings that does little to shed
light on the biography of the polarizing
philosopher. And that’s by
design.
You see, Mac is a fan of the Socratic
method, which advocates
asking pointed questions rather
than dictating facts, and this work
refl ects that conceit. The playwright
believes that wondering
is an aspirational virtue, and it’s
imperative that theater challenges
the status quo.
According to Mac, most theatrical
drama follows the arc of the
straight male orgasm, “engorging
to catharsis.” He suggests, however,
that the radical queer male
orgasm may be “varied, multiple,
and circular,” and so should theater.
Synead Cidney Nichols and Kat Edmonson in “The Hang.”
At the top of the spectacle, we
witness a festive procession of
Athenians — acting as a proverbial
Greek Chorus — singing a dirge to
mourn the imminent demise of the
bearded hero, played with a regallike
detachment by Mac. These
fl amboyant characters evoke genderqueer
Radical Faeries, 19th
Century British pantomime actors,
and New York Club Kids from the
early 1990s. The year is 399 B.C.,
though that’s the precisely to type
of historical detail the show takes
pains to omit.
The energetic, talented company
does its best to master the
impossibly dense material. There
is no character development because,
well, nobody other than the
doomed Socrates and the dutiful
Plato is named.
To be sure, “The Hang” is a
feast for the eyes and ears. The
costumes, designed by Machine
Dazzle, are stunning, candy-hued
confections that defy description.
Dazzle also crafted the set, an otherworldly
environment festooned
with swaths of fabric and beanbag
chairs (the script says it depicts
the innards of Socrates’ body,
though that is not readily evident).
The constant shifts in mood are
deftly articulated by Kate McGee’s
lighting design.
Under the direction of Niegel
Smith, the ethos is homespun and
rough around the edges. It recalls
other queer, let’s-put-on-a-show
traditions like the Ridiculous Theatrical
Company from the 1960s
and 1970s. The eight musicians
often vacate their spots on the periphery
to take center stage. If the
jazz ensemble is not as tight as it
could be, perhaps that’s part of the
plan. Raw spontaneity is favored
over practiced polish.
The 26 musical numbers, scored
by Matt Ray and choreographed by
Chanon Judson, are an odd mix of
jazz, blues, and Broadway (did I detect
notes of Sondheim?). At times
the lyrics are cryptic, bordering on
the nonsensical.
My favorite number fi nds Socrates,
in Noël Coward mode, recounting
the court trial, which was
more about his love for boys than
political heresy. Here’s a snippet:
So you know the corruption
they charged was eruption
of the member of stiff Socrates.
Oh yes it was clear
MARIA BARANOVA
he was tried for his queer
appetites and not what they
said.
For he’d slept with the son
of—well at least one—
and encouraged the others to
bed…
Not that this enterprise is only
about virtue in ancient Greece.
Anachronistic touches are sprinkled
throughout, including barbed
references to climate change and
Mitch McConnell. One sassy number
is titled “Okay Boomer.” At one
point, as Plato is pecking away on
a typewriter device, Socrates asks,
“Could you put that down and be
present with me for a moment?”
As the “The Hang” reached
its inevitable conclusion, with a
whimper instead of a bang, I was
exhausted. This ambitious, rowdy
work achieves Mac’s goal of challenging
the status quo. Whether
that’s enough to fully satisfy theatergoers
is an open question worthy
of Socrates himself.
THE HANG | HERE, 145 Sixth
Ave. (at Dominick St.) | Wed.-Sat. at
8:30 p.m.; Sun. at 2 p.m. | Through
Feb. 20 | $35-$100; here.org/
shows/the-hang/ | 1 hour and 45
mins. with no intermission
JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 9,14 2022 | GayCityNews.com
/here.org
/GayCityNews.com
