REVIEW: Pink Fringe: The Sissy’s Progress

The Sissy’s Progress

Choreographer and Performing Artist: Nando Messias
Musical Director: Jordan Hunt

Nando Messias was beaten up on the street behind Toynbee Studios in an act of homophobic hatred. His response to this random violence is The Sissy’s Progress, a spectacle of provocation, celebration and hyper flamboyance.

Part dance-theatre, part walking performance, The Sissy’s Progress leads its audience out onto the streets with a live marching band playing original music composed by Jordan Hunt.

Messias piece is strikingly original and startlingly odd, it felt like a drag Butoh performance and slowly melded and changed from one thing to another. One moment celebration, the next a fractured mesmerising tableau of Christ taken from the cross, shifting to Hogarth’s feeling of change and descent, then back to look-at-me-for-who-else-is-there-to-look-at brassy flamboyance. It’s a chewy, complex and yet disarmingly simple piece. Messias’ title; using the old term for a state journey by royalty blending into the modern figurative sense of growth, development and advancement to higher stages is used to great effect.

Messias is both humble and outrageously magnificent at the same time, like a huge impossibly elegant gilded giraffe he slides and jerks across the space, one moment striking, smiting fireworked stork, the next folded cloud, crumpled, collapsed and empty of hope. All the time centring the movement on himself and the change being wrought during the dance and progression, searching for what draws attention, shading and removing parts of himself, which come back, insuppressible: his sweet deep refreshing well spring of being. Perhaps I thought about it too much, but perhaps that’s what Messias wants us to do; to watch, be delighted and stirred up.

Difficult to explain, sometimes difficult to watch but utterly compelling this challenging and life affirming deeply personal piece is Messias reaction to his homophobic assault and attack. It feels like it too. I expected the movement though the streets to be joyful, camp, silly but it was dark, stumbling at points, driven onwards into an unknown fate, part death march, part Proud stomp.

As they turned up into Edward St, a car went past, four men in it, someone shouted something jeering, probably abusive, the music drowned them out. Then the rest of us turned the corner and they silenced themselves when they saw the size of the crowd. This reflects the streets of Brighton in 2016.

Five accompanying musicians both trumpeting the progression and then using their instruments to beat Messias into the ground. Then lifting him, just for a moment into a Pietà. This was a Via Dolorosa with trombones. Part triumphant movement, part clown, dangerous and painted and unpredictable lurching forward into the unknown and part monstrously perfect, demanding affirming reclaiming of the streets. Glitter, silk, scarlet impossible high heels, fur and ball gowns, a juggernaut of camp. He’s not waving, not drowning but signalling to get out of the fucking way as he’s not stopping for anything. It’s not at all as easy as I had presumed it would be. How nice to be challenged, embraced and taught something on my very first fringe show.

I came away touched by the vulnerabilities displayed on stage, disturbed by the representations of violence and pack mentality, strengthened as a Queer by seeing someone so brilliant and defiant and thoroughly entertained by a fascinating, interesting and engaging piece of theatre. And Proud to have marched behind such a vibrantly alive person who can create such beauty from the horror of ugly prejudice and violence.

Bravo!

Read more of the story and work behind this provocative and engaging piece of art here in an interview or over at Messias’s website

The Sissey’s Progress is part of the Pink Fringe at the Marlborough and what a line up they have this year, always inspiring, often excellent, never dull, check out the rest of their offerings for this year’s festival season.