By Matthew Wexler
The word “faggot” appears nearly 100 times in The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, so if it makes you uncomfortable, embrace it, get over it, or ask yourself why. Philip Venables and Ted Huffman’s fantasia delivers a deep dive into the 1977 queer parable of the same name. It’s a wild ride, brought to life by a company of 15 multi-disciplinary performers through music, movement, and spoken word.
The “cult book of fables” by Larry Mitchell, illustrated by Ned Asta (both of whom lived in queer communes throughout the 70s), faded into history until it was republished in 2016. This adaptation originated at the Manchester International Festival in 2023, and now makes its North American Premiere at the Park Avenue Armory, a cavernous space anchored by the 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall.
The size and scope of the piece, with its musical complexity and sweeping textual panoramas about the fate of faggots and the men determined to suppress them, is like climbing into a kaleidoscope. Venables’ complex score offers rich baroque, operatic, and folk influences, providing an aural underpinning for Huffman’s narrative (mostly drawn from the original text). Theo Clinkard’s choreography and costumes, which evoke a curated raid of a vintage shop, further illuminate the text, as does the use of harp, viola da gamba, and other period instruments.
Still, the work remains accessible thanks to Kit Green’s equally luminescent and saucy narration, luring us into the imaginary world of Ramrod (“known to its neighbors for the paranoia of its leaders.”)
By design, The Faggots and Their Friends offers a bird’s-eye view of queerness and more universal themes of oppression and environmental impact. In doing so, its resonance relies on the emotional availability of its viewers, but not without making a compelling case for the generosity of creative spirit:
So the faggots began to share
The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions
their clothes, their secrets,
their potions, their spaces.
And they learned, slowly,
that the more they share the more there was.
4 out of 5 stars
Fast facts: ‘The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions’
The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions is a sprawling, kaleidoscopic fantasia that rewards emotional availability with creative generosity—embrace the discomfort and dive in.
- Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, New York City
- Running time: One hour and 40 minutes with no intermission
- Performances through December 14, 2025
