Blink and You’ll Miss It is Terry Geo’s self-written one-man tour de force. Incredibly, Terry managed to cast an epic tragi-romcom of modern gay life from a single chair. He talks warmly and with gentle humour about his failed boyband audition at aged 40, which gives him the shock of a mid-life crisis.
He tries to enjoy himself in a crowded bar, only to be annoyed by his friends. It’s here that the scene is set for a meet cute of the ages. He meets Akida, a leather-clad Kenyan beauty that he obviously falls in love with.
Blink and You’ll Miss It is authentic and unapologetic. It’s refreshing to hear the topic spoken about with humour, fun and sexiness. Further than that, truth was stamped in every line. It was thoughtful, especially about Akida’s past. It can be a fine line talking about a culture that is not your own, and doesn’t centre that voice, but Geo handled it sensitively. There are many, often dark, dramatic beats to the piece, which only work to strengthen it.
Before you know it, you’re totally invested in the world of this happy couple, their trials and tribulations. But then of course, the inevitable tearjerking climax of any good romcom comes down the track, which will still take you by surprise.
Blink and You’ll Miss It is not perfect. For all its excellent distillation of a gay romcom (something we need tenfold more of) there was a lot of needless detail around the protagonist’s fame, X-Factor auditions and paparazzi bugbears.
This is something I felt we could’ve done with a lot less of. It’s a small niggle in an otherwise excellently written monologue. Terry Geo is confident and self-assured, and the world he builds is so realistic, I could’ve sworn Blink and You’ll Miss It was a verbatim piece.
