THEATER
When Trauma Overtakes
Searing novel about a hookup gone wrong erupts on stage
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
When Édouard Louis
was barely 20 years
old, he met a charming,
swarthy young
man on a Paris street on a rainy
Christmas Eve and took him
home. But after an intensely intimate
night of sharing secrets
and mind-blowing sex, the mood
turned hellishly sour. In a fi t of remorse
and self-loathing, the man
violently rapes Édouard at gunpoint,
sending him to the emergency
room and, later, to the police
station. The offi cial report called it
“attempted homicide.”
Compelled to share his story, Édouard
wrote “History of Violence,”
an autobiographical novel piecing
together the events in graphic detail.
And now Thomas Ostermeier,
artistic director of Schaubühne
Berlin, has adapted the story for
TELEVISION
GLAAD Praises LGBTQ Gains on TV
Group presses for more representation in next fi ve years
BY MATT TRACY
A record-high number of
LGBTQ characters are
expected to appear on
broadcast primetime
scripted programming by the end of
the 2019-2020 TV season, according
to GLAAD’s annual “Where We
Are on TV” report, and there are
overall gains in transgender characters
and women.
At the same time, the group is
pressing the industry across all
delivery platforms to improve both
LGBTQ and communities of color
representation over the next fi ve
years.
The report, which evaluates
characters on broadcast, cable,
and streaming platforms between
June 1 of this year and May 31 of
2020, found 90 regular LGBTQ
Laurenz Laufenberg and Renato Schuch in Édouard Louis’ autobiographical memory play “History of
Violence,” presented by Schaubühne Berlin at St. Ann’s Warehouse through December 1.
the stage (he also directs), with an
assist from Florian Borchmeyer
and the author himself.
And while a straightforward
characters on broadcast scripted
shows, which represents 10.2 percent
of the 879 total characters.
The amount of regular LGBTQ
characters on cable remained
largely the same, increasing by
just one from last year to 121 this
year. The total number of LGBTQ
characters starring in recurring
roles on cable increased from 88
to 94.
Netfl ix had the best numbers
among streaming services, with
GLAAD counting 121 LGBTQ
characters on that platform, representing
an increase of 33 characters
from the previous year. Yet,
those numbers are propped up by
two shows that are not returning
in the year beginning next June —
“Tales of the City” and “Orange is
the New Black.”
Showtime boasts the best queer
TEDDY WOLFF
account of the events would be
gripping enough, this inventive,
unfl inching take crackles with astonishing
theatricality. At its core,
representation on cable, with 38
regular and recurring LGBTQ
characters. Most of those characters
appear on “The L Word: Generation
Q,” which is a reboot of
“The L Word” and is set to air by
the end of 2019.
The GLAAD analysis did not include
any statistical perspective on
the degree to which LGBTQ representation
was segregated largely to
specifi c program franchises.
Among broadcast networks, the
CW ranked the best in LGBTQ inclusion,
with 15.4 percent of LGBTQ
series regulars, followed by
NBC (12.5 percent) and ABC (10.4
percent).
Queer women outnumber men
across all platforms. On broadcast
TV, there are more LGBTQ women
for the fi rst time — 53 percent compared
to 47 percent — marking a
the drama is a memory play, where
events are seen through a fractured
prism of recall by Édouard,
his sister Clara, health professionals,
and the police.
It is clear from the get-go that
Édouard suffers from an acute
case of PTSD with attendant OCD.
This probing drama makes a
strong case for literature and theater
as catharsis.
If the play embraces the power of
memories and storytelling, it also
challenges their veracity. “I no longer
recognized my own memories,”
Édouard says. “The questions of
the police forced me to describe my
night with Reda differently than
I’d have chosen to.”
Ostermeier employs a number of
shrewd devices to intensify the experience
while keeping us slightly
off balance. Often scenes overlap
➤ HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, continued on p.21
three percent increase from last
year. The lone non-binary character
represented one percent of the
total. Meanwhile, women make up
50 percent of LGBTQ people on
streaming platforms compared to
49 percent men and one percent
non-binary characters. LGBTQ
women fare the best on cable TV,
where they represent 57 percent of
the characters. Forty-two percent
are men and one percent are nonbinary.
GLAAD pronounced the racial
and ethnic breakdown of LGBTQ
characters as “encouraging,” noting
that 48 percent of those on
broadcast TV are white, 23 percent
are black, and 13 percent
are Latinx. Asian-Pacifi c Islander
characters make up eight percent.
➤ GLAAD ON TV, , continued on p.21
November 21 - November 27, 2 20 019 | GayCityNews.com
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