Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Small Town Boys
Shaper Caper
Genre: Dance, LGBTQ+, Physical Theatre, Theatre
Venue: Zoo Southside
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A young man journeys from his small hometown to the big city, where he finds joy and community at Paradise, a happening LGBTQ+ nightclub. But soon he will be forced to to confront a terrifying health crisis that will change everything for him and his new friends. Featuring eight dancers and a community cast. Winner of the Creative Arts Award at the 2024 Proud Scotland Awards.
Review
Small Town Boys is notable not for its familiar, sad story — young gay man coming of age in the 1980s escapes his rigid hometown existence and finds nirvana and a community in a LGBTQ+ nightclub before the scourge of AIDS decimates his newfound life and that of his friends —but rather for the way it is told: via dance. And though the dramatic narrative becomes a bit muddled as things turn serious and deadly for this group of young men, the consistently bold choreography and thrilling performances keep the production steadily aloft.
The show opens as audience members enter the Main House at Zoo Southside and find themselves in Paradise, a buzzy nightclub that is already is full swing. No velvet rope with snooty doormen here; attendees are promptly encouraged to take to the dance floor. As a result it’s initially challenging to tell who the official cast members are in the energetic sea of people dancing to classic tracks by Madonna, Laura Branigan and A-ha. Only the ‘80s clothes give the game away; kudos to costume designer Becky Minto for nailing the period looks.
The setting established, audience members are herded back to their seats and soon introduced to the colorful denizens of Paradise before meeting the show’s protagonist, the young man (Benji Knapper) thrown out of his home by his disapproving parents who subsequently finds salvation in this brave new gay world. Soon thereafter comes one of the show’s major highlights, an extended number with floating graffitied bathroom doors that constantly shift shape to recreate writhing pictures of the physical hedonism in which all these clubbers indulge with their newfound freedom.
The fun and games are cut short, of course, by what is first called “the gay cancer”. One club kid lifts his shirt to show his Kaposi sarcoma lesion and his shortened future is instantly written. He gives a joyous last dance of life before he dies, one reminiscent of the one Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider standing in for director Bob Fosse) performs in the final moments of All That Jazz.
Then another young man lifts his shirt to show his lesion. And so it goes. The fear and sadness of these doomed young men is palpable, but because their characters aren’t particularly established, the overall emotional impact on the audience is muted. We care, but we could care more. And as the club kids turn into activists to fight the establishment — Maggie Thatcher makes a dishonorable appearance, of course — the story becomes more and more general, less personal.
But oh, that dancing. It’s fabulous. Director and choreographer Thomas Small has created something special with this dance narrative; his passion is evident in every move and gesture that he gets out of his brilliant, well-trained ensemble. The remarkably pliable Knapper gives a beautiful performance, able to bend backwards and turn themselves inwards, their emotional tortures made physical. And because the entire talented company is deserving of praise, they shall each be listed here: Jake Evans, Miles Kearley, Alex McCrossan, David Pallant, Louis Partridge, Ellis Saul and JJ Williams. Bravo to all.
