“Turns out, the Christians were right – all gays DO go to Hell.”
Johnson Wexford is a single, self-absorbed gay lawyer. He surrounds himself with straight friends, since that’s how he views himself – except for the fact that he does like to have sex with men. He doesn’t identify with traditional gay culture or archetypes. Radical queers might call him an internal homophobe.
One Halloween evening, drunk and lonely, Johnson experiences a rather ignominious and sudden death. He wakes up and finds himself in Hell. Being a lawyer, he immediately tries to negotiate his way out. It’s a brand new twist on the classic “make a deal with the Devil” premise with a little bit of a shout-out to Dante’s Inferno.
This is a story about redemption. It’s not about redeeming yourself for being gay, but looking at what the individual values most and what one is willing to sacrifice for it. Do you value identity overall? Or should you just be a good person and do the right thing?
Keywords: gay, LGTBQ2SA+, curling, magical realism, identity, redemption, comedy
Premiered at the Atlantic Fringe Festival by Bus Stop Theatre, Halifax NS, 2013
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 90 minutes
Content notes: Many potentially triggering events, references to death, homophobia, violence, swearing
Cast size: 6 - 16 actors
Male roles: 11
Female roles: 4
Trans/Non-Binary/Gender Non-Conforming roles: 1
Musicians: 1
Casting notes: The play has 16 characters but is crafted in such a a way that 6 actors can manage all the swings.