Sunday, May 14, 2006

Guys gone tame

I spent Friday night with my gay posse. You might be wondering what kind of wacky hijinks four gay guys and their female friend got up to on a Friday night.

Did we hit the clubs? Drink wine out of a box? Cruise for hot men? Belt out show-tunes at a karaoke bar?

Nope. We drove out to the suburbs to watch a high school play. And then we went back to Paul’s place and ordered pizza. You’d never see that on an episode of Queer as Folk.

My friend Dale, who is a high school drama teacher in Richmond, invited us to watch his production of Macbeth ("production" meaning "modern interpretation"). I originally told him "no thanks" ("no thanks" meaning "I’d rather gouge my eyes out than watch a bunch of no-talent teenagers butcher Shakespeare.")

I changed my mind when I found out there would be free pizza afterward.

I normally spend Friday nights curled up on the couch watching Laguna Beach. So I suppose it’s fitting that I ended up inside a real high school this weekend instead of watching one on TV.

It was kind of fun to go back to high school. The kids were cute in an awkward and/or over-confident kind of way. They all called my friend Dale "Mr. E." This was kind of confusing at first. I kept looking around, thinking, "Who the heck is Mr. E?"

It didn’t take long to realize that my friend is the cool teacher. I suddenly saw Dale in a whole new light. Or maybe it was just because it was the first time I saw him wearing a blazer and an ironed shirt.

After we made our way to our seats, I looked around and realized the audience was entirely made up of parents, grandparents and students.

"Did anyone bring a flask to help us through this?" asked Mick.

It turns out we didn’t need alcohol to have a good time (and I’m not just saying that in case any of Dale’s students are reading this).

The play itself exceeded my expectations. Oh sure, there was plenty of high school histrionics and over-acting, as well as some stumbled lines and missed cues. But a few of the kids were extremely talented actors and a joy to watch.

Who knows what kind of wacky hijinks we’ll get up to next weekend? Maybe dinner at White Spot followed by bingo at the community centre.

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