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Looking for John
Birmingham Rep Door
**** IN just two months in 1976 Britain’s
John Curry won European, Olympic and World skating gold. He was already multiple British champion and the
same year was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, a man at the
pinnacle of his sport. It is interesting to discover that a generation
on from Birmingham born Curry’s golden era his name and legacy are not
as well known as you would expect In a biographical play written and performed by
Tony Timberlake and directed by Tessa Walker, we are introduced to
Curry’s personal life and career as a figure skater. Timberlake uses Curry’s
life to explore his own journey, telling us the similarities through
‘hands on’ research. Looking for John is part of Birmingham’s
SHOUT Festival
of Queer Arts and Culture In the emotionally charged and incredibly
researched one man production, Timberlake tells us how and why he was
influenced by the man he had never met. It was clear that the paths of
Curry and Timberlake never crossed, but there certainly was a deep and
personal connection. When the play starts, Timberlake explains how at
the age of thirteen, he loved watching Curry on ice and was fixated with
the man and his work from then on. Timberlake’s performance is intricately peppered
with detailed research and adoration for Curry himself. Timberlake tells
the audience of how he came to have such a close connection to the
figure skater, by looking into Curry’s intimate life, starting by
visiting the first place he trained. When arriving at Solihull Ice Rink, Timberlake
was shocked to find that there was no mention of Curry’s existence
within the ice rink today. He asks how this can be when Curry was such a
great influence to the sport in the 1970s.
We find that the only memorial to Curry is in the
form of a statue, which is now in Sheffield. The confusion and sad
compulsions are amplified when Timberlake tells us about meeting people
with the closest connections to Curry, which exposed Curry’s ‘real’ life
outside of the ice rink. Timberlake weaves the personal life of Curry in
parallel with his own life experiences. As a performer, Timberlake
captivates us with an engaging story-telling tone, giving us a step by
step account of how he came to the conclusions of today. Timberlake switches voice and embodies characters
that were met in the research period as well as those in his own life.
It allows us to vividly imagine the rich and enticing worlds of both
Curry and himself. The screen at the back shows beautiful images from
Curry’s routines and Timberlake is the voiceover, talking to us about
the inspiration he felt through Curry’s art. The most important message to come from Looking
for John is the sense of accepting one’s self in spite of all
prejudices. Timberlake uses the life of Curry to understand and explore
what being gay means to him. Curry died from an AIDS related heart
attack in 1994 – he wa 44. Because of this, Timberlake makes it clear to the
audience about the importance of society’s acceptance. In conjunction
with the SHOUT Festival, performers and artists have a safe place to
have the voice that needs to be heard. Timberlake paints the good and the bad in both
Curry’s world and his own. Through emotional and sometimes painful
accounts of recalling past events, Timberlake allows the audience to
question between ‘right and wrong’ with accepting the queer community
and how much acceptance has changed within the past three decades. Elizabeth Halpin 16-11-16
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