Venue: Dunedin Theatre, Braw Venues @ Hill Street
Date: Sunday 16th August
Reviewer: Eileen Inglis
A funny and moving journey through faith, sexuality and self-acceptance
Acts of Contrition begins with Glasgow-born performer Jon Gerrard McFaulds looking back at his childhood with his mum and his granny, growing up gay in a traditional Catholic family. It’s funny, warm and full of colourful characters, and there was plenty of laughter from the audience around me.
Catholicism runs through the show, not least in the form of Sister Bernadette, his granny’s best friend, and a recurring makeshift confession box. Underneath the humour is a young boy growing up feeling that there’s something about himself that needs to be confessed.
That struggle follows him into adulthood. He enters a relationship with Amy and tries his hardest to be straight, before eventually throwing himself into Glasgow’s gay scene.
Then the show shifts dramatically.
Gerrard recounts a sexual assault in a scene that’s uncomfortable and difficult to watch. It changes the tone completely and ultimately leads him to leave Scotland for Barcelona.
But Acts of Contrition doesn’t stay in the darkness for long. In Barcelona, Gerrard rebuilds his life, creates his alter ego, Bonnie Oui Laddie, and goes on to become one of the city’s most prominent drag performers.
That makes Bonnie’s final appearance feel like much more than a costume change. This Fringe run marks the first time McFaulds has performed in Scotland in drag and, 14 years after leaving, there’s something really moving about seeing him back here as Bonnie.
The title becomes increasingly significant. An Act of Contrition is a Catholic prayer asking forgiveness for sin, but by the end, Gerrard no longer appears to be asking forgiveness for who he is.
The tone changes dramatically as the story unfolds, moving from comedy and music into some much darker territory before finding its way back to something joyful.
It’s a deeply personal journey through family, faith, shame, trauma and acceptance, told with plenty of humour and a great soundtrack along the way.
Coming back to Scotland to tell that story feels like a final act in itself.
