THE WILL TO BE

Written and performed by Mark Salvestro

Co-directed by Sarah Hallam & Phoebe Anne Taylor

Q Theatre, Queanbeyan to June 14

 

Reviewed By Len Power 13 June 2024

 

It’s 1962 and homosexuality is illegal. William O’Halloran, a married English lecturer, is packing up his office because he has been dismissed from his position. Recalling the events that led to this moment, William paints a damning picture of a society which does not tolerate love between same sex couples.

The tale of star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet reminds him of his current situation and quotations from the play he clearly knows and loves, come ironically to mind as he packs.

Writer and performer, Mark Salvestro, received a Best Theatre weekly award in 2020 at the Adelaide Fringe for The Will To Be. Prior to this, he wrote, produced and performed his debut solo work, Buried at Sea. Most recently, he performed the role of Caravaggio in the Canberra Theatre Centre’s production of Chiaroscuro.

Mark Salvestro as William O'Halloran

Salvestro, in his words and performance gives a very real characterization of a man struggling with feelings for his own sex in a time when society and the law frowned upon homosexuality.  This is a man who has denied his feelings, married and tried to live as society dictated at the time, only to understand his true nature when he meets and falls in love with a male student.

The parallel with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is well-handled and the show is staged simply with the focus squarely on the character of William. It looks a little lost on the Q’s large stage, and would probably work better in a smaller, more intimate venue.

Only the ending is questionable. It seems unlikely that a man in 1962 would make such a strong statement for gay rights. Taking the action that he plans would have had devastating consequences for himself and seems out of character for a man who has been closeted and admits to self-loathing.

His defiant stand at the end of the play may be upbeat and pleasing to a 21^st Century enlightened audience, but the reality is that nothing he could have done would have changed things at that time. It would have been more powerful to let the audience see and understand the dire situation of being a gay man in the society of the time.

 

Photo by Sare Clarke

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 14 June 2024.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.