Theatre review: A Child Made Of Love - Scotsman.com Living

Theatre review: A Child Made Of Love - Scotsman.com Living
By Joyce McMillan
TRON THEATRE, GLASGOW***
OF ALL the themes to emerge from gay theatre over the past 25 years, the story of gay men who yearn for fatherhood has been the slowest to surface. Now, though, many gay couples are facing the familiar dilemmas of parenthood, with the added complications of adoption or surrogacy.Matthew McVarish's A Child Made Of Love – commissioned by Glasgay! and seen at the Tron last week – is a soft-hearted little drama, with a song thrown in, about a loving gay couple and their quest for a son; indeed, if Oscar Wilde had been around, he might have called it a play of "more than usually revolting sentimentality", so shamelessly does it twang our heartstrings. It is performed with great heart and skill, though, by Andrew Agnew and Ed Corrie, with superb child actor Kai Ross as the image of their future son; and, simple though it is, it signals a whole new era of intense male involvement in the business of parenthood and child-raising.It's worth noting, too, that there was a much sharper take on the gay quest for fatherhood in Markus Makavellian's rap show International Order, at the Arches last week. Makavellian – aka Drew Taylor – is a performer who comes on in outrageous drag-queen gear and sets out to shock. After a while, though, he pulls off his sparkly wig and emerges as a formidable performance poet. His voice is raw, clever and disturbing, and we will be hearing much more of it in years to come.