Meet Ace (they/he), the hapless yet endearing 22-year-old hero at the generous heart of Vinnie Heaven’s (they/them) newest work commissioned by Cardboard Citizens and directed by Debbie Hannan. Exploring the challenging experiences of trans and queer homelessness in equal measures humour and humanity, FAUN is a tender and scintillating work of empathy.
We first meet our hero crawling out of a polypropylene IKEA bag, head sprouting with a small pair of antler nubs. They recount their saga of couch-surfing and shell out plenty of advice to fellow queers-in-need on how to be the ideal flatmate: “They want gratitude from us, so excessive gratitude must be provided.
FAUN lays out the dangers not only of risking one’s safety and integrity to crash in the living rooms of distant relatives, friends-of-convenience, and acquaintances, but of living your life to please those around you. As Ace surfs from sofa to sofa, he makes himself smaller and smaller, shrinking deep into the rituals of self-abasement they think are owed to those they stay with.
As Ace finds himself in increasingly dire straits, he finds no other recourse than to fawn desperately over the owners of his 13th couch. Ace cleans, cooks, and paints; soothes, pacifies, and attends. Yet with each act of effacement, Ace’s dwindling self-respect manifests in some unusual transformations. The only cure to ridding themselves of their newly-donned faun-dom is a generous helping of soul-searching and self-love (and a magical queer forest couldn’t hurt either).
Despite being performed by an all-queer and gender-variant cast of three, FAUN never rests on the laurels of its diversity just for diversity’s sake. While shows which focus so intimately on queer and trans adversity can easily slip into the realm of exploitation, FAUN faces Ace’s challenges head on and with a fervour, campiness, and irreverence that only a queer cast, crew, and audience will fully understand.
This understanding is especially palpable between the cast and their characters. Aitch Wylie (they/them/he), Nyah Randon (she/they), and Afton Moran (they/them) bring as much realism as they do joy to their characters. Their empathy is effervescent, subsuming the audience in each of their distinct hopes, struggles, and successes. After curtain, we know these characters intimately. We have suffered with them, we have grown with them, and we wish we could see more of them.
Finding a show as consistent in motive and tone as FAUN is will be challenging at best. From the intuitive grasp of the show’s simultaneously nuanced and campy spirit by its actors, to the flamboyant choreography by Chi-San Howard (she/her); from the inclusive production design by Jacob Lucy (he/him) to the perfectly matched lighting and sound compositions by Laura Howard (she/they) and Mwen, FAUN is a study in thematic cohesion. Simultaneously well-polished and confidently relaxed, Vinnie Heaven’s writing is witty and tongue-in-cheek while always driving toward a deeper truth. In the age of reboots and remakes, FAUN proves single-handedly that original writing will always be worthy of investment and will continue to inspire its audiences.
FAUN will run through Saturday, April 29th 2023 at Battersea’s Theatre503. Tickets are available for purchase here.
