Quentin Crisp, the self-described ‘stately homo’ of England, may have died in 1999, but his spirit lives on in Civil, a performance piece inspired by Crisp’s autobiography, The Naked Civil Servant.

Openly gay in an era when homogeneity, not homosexuality, was the norm, the witty, flamboyant Crisp was a formative influence on theatre-maker Robert Pacitti, who created Civil for Manchester’s Queer Up North festival in 1996.

“When I was a child, The Naked Civil Servant was in my parents’ house, which was completely out of character with the rest of my childhood. I still don’t know how that book was in my parents’ house. And so from a really young age I discovered that there were people out there living their lives defiantly,” Pacitti tells MCV.

It was in that same spirit of defiance that Robert founded the Pacitti Company in 1990, creating experimental theatre works that engage and challenge in equal measure. But when one of the company’s productions, Geek, was banned (“I’d always thought, in my hot-headed, punk way that that would be a really good thing to happen, but when it happened it was rubbish; it meant the work was stopped and it felt really out of control.”), he stepped back to consider his next move.

Civil, an exploration of disobedience and liberty, was the end result.

“I thought I was making serious work before, when it was loud and punk and stomping, and Civil is something much more gentle, but its rage kind of creeps up on you, like a glacier,” Pacitti laughs. “And it’s 12 years old now, you know? We’re showing it still because we believe it has political relevance, and I hope audiences find that too.”

Civil at Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall, Monday 18 & Tuesday 19 August at 7:30pm. Bookings: www.artshouse.com.au or (03) 9639 0096.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Title
Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Email
Website
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment