Fringe Review: A GAY MASSEUR’S GUIDE TO HAPPY ENDINGS, Greenside @ George Street
Photo credit: Larissa Pinkham for DMLK Video
At 10:05pm, we descended the stairs into Greenside @ George Street and found ourselves in what may be one of the smallest and most intimate theatre spaces we’ve encountered at the Fringe. There was barely any distance between performer and audience, and in the middle of the room sat one very innocent-looking massage table.
We had a feeling it might not stay innocent for long.
A Gay Masseur’s Guide to Happy Endings follows AJ, a New York actor who turns to gay massage work to help pay the bills. One particular appointment becomes the gateway into a much bigger story about sex work,, attraction, loneliness and the complicated reasons we sometimes look for validation in other people.
Austin Jennings Boykin takes us behind the curtain, or, perhaps more appropriately, under the blanket, and into a world that most of us will only ever experience from the outside.
And what makes the show work is just how completely Boykin owns the room.
They are charismatic, funny and incredibly open, moving between comedy and much more vulnerable storytelling without ever making the transition feel forced. There are certainly moments designed to make you blush, but the show never feels like it is simply trying to shock its audience. The sex is part of the story, but it isn't the whole story.
Instead, we gradually start to understand what this work means to AJ and why it becomes much harder to separate the physical act from the emotional reasons for being there.
The tiny room makes all of this even more effective. There is nowhere for the story to hide, and nowhere for the audience to hide either. Sitting just feet away from Boykin creates a strange feeling of intimacy, we're not watching some enormous production from the back of a theatre; we're being told someone's story almost directly to our faces, like with an old friend in a pub, except for the fact you likely wouldn’t get fully naked in a pub. Boykin is in their element in this environment and has the charisma to make that work beautifully.
What we particularly loved is where the show ultimately takes us. Beneath all the sex, the humour and the stories of the clients is a much more universal question about what we think we're worth when nobody is choosing us.
By the end, we realised that AJ doesn't necessarily know how to value themself until somebody else makes them feel desirable, and suddenly, everything we've watched takes on a different meaning.
That's what gives the show its heart and makes it work so well. This isn't simply a story about a gay actor discovering the world of massage work. It's about a person trying to work out where desire ends and validation begins, and whether being wanted by someone else can ever really fill the space where wanting yourself should be. You should love yourself, always.
It's sexy, funny, occasionally uncomfortable and surprisingly tender, and for a show that begins with us walking down the stairs at 10:05pm towards a massage chair, we certainly weren't expecting to leave thinking quite so much about self-worth.
Austin Jennings Boykin is a captivating storyteller, and A Gay Masseur's Guide to Happy Endings is a wonderfully intimate hour that manages to make you laugh, squirm and, ultimately, feel for its central character.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: James Edge
