The world of chemsex is explored by four male presenting dancers in Summerhall’s Party Scene: Chemsex. Community. Crisis. this Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The medium of choice is interpretative dance yet this production from This Is Pop Baby utilises pulsating music and fragmented narrative to explore the allure and dangers faced by the chemsex community.
Creators Philip Connaughton and Phillip McMahon and performers Anderson de Souza, Carl Harrison, Liam Bixby, and Matthew Morris present a 65 minute snapshot of the world of chemsex. Chemsex refers to the use of drugs to facilitate or enhance sexual activity. Through the bodies of the performers, Party Scene examines this transgressive world – capturing a world rarely spoken about openly in the gay community.
The cast fill the stage of Summerhall’s Main Hall as the audience file in. Some workout and do push-ups, whilst others sit on chairs smiling and greeting the audience. The assembled cast represents a cross-section of the community, diverse in age group and backgrounds yet throughout Party Scene work beautifully and cohesively to explore this challenging, provocative canvas. Effectively staged with neon glows penetrating the darkness, costume changes courtesy of on-stage clothes rack, and a club-ready soundtrack of house numbers, Party Scene is a visually striking piece.
However, it is is the collaboration between the performers that provides much of the thematic groundwork of Party Scene. Performers lift and gently manoeuvre one another, in group scenes, whilst showcasing various styles of dance and movement in individual scenes. This movement is paired with sparing dialogue which presents a number of dislocated narrative angles. Topics explored include a young man increasingly-concerned if someone took sexual advantage of him when engaging in party drugs, a performer recounting conversation about their queerness with a straight brother, or a chemsex related death occurring with the deceased being robbed in a blasé fashion to pay for a Chinese meal.
As well as delving into the darker effects of chemsex, there is a real sense of body positivity and self-acceptance explored in Party Scene. The array of body types and performers on stage, whilst embodying the dangers, capture a provocative allure and sexually-charged energy. Philip Connaughton and Phillip McMahon’s work does an impressive job not condemning or judging, but giving an artistic account of the realities surrounding chemsex.
Certain elements of Party Scene proved somewhat challenging to access. One performer donning drag to a rendition of Lady Gaga’s Rain On Me is not quite clear. Perhaps a musing on chemsex within the drag community or simply trying to show the range of queer individuals engaging in chemsex? Costume changes do not always feel necessary and Party Scene is capable of addressing its themes in a punchier run-time.
Party Scene: Chemsex. Community. Crisis. creatively gives a judgement-free insight into the realities of chemsex. The four performers bring Party Scene’s themes of sex, danger, and community to life with strikingly absorbing movements and finesse.
Get tickets here.