Brad Fraser

GAY WRESTLERS AT THE FRINGE
BY BRAD FRASER
FOR THE NATIONAL POST

It might seem to be a long way from the violent male world of professional wrestling to the slapstick and occasionally glamorous world of the Drag Queen. But according to the creators of PileDriver, one of the many shows currently running at the Edmonton Fringe Festival, the distance between wrestler and female impersonator, is not as long as one might think.

Darrin Hagen, local drag impresario (Under the name Gloria Hole.), actor, writer, television host and producer, along with his long time partner Kevin Hendricks, have joined forces with another Fringe Favourite, Wes Borg of Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie in order to bring to Fringers a decidedly different take on the world of professional wrestling. The inspiration for the physically demanding show came from a now deceased member of Edmonton's gay community.

Harvey Lloyd Jones worked as a bouncer at the now defunct gay bar FLASHBACK in the eighties and early nineties before dying of AIDS related causes in 1992. Harvey was a very big man, craggy and intimidating until you actually spoke to him and found out what a gentle guy he actually was. As a fixture on Alberta's relatively minuscule gay scene for years, it wasn't until after Harvey's death that a past he'd only alluded to previously suddenly became clear. Harvey once wrestled under the name Killer Karl Kramer. The 262-pound Kramer was only one of the many characters Mr. Jone's portrayed on the prairie wrestling circuit a few decades earlier.

If you were a kid growing up in Alberta in the seventies it was virtually impossible not to be aware of the highly rated STAMPEDE WRESTLING, which aired on Saturday afternoons for years. Killer Karl Kramer was one of the many wrestlers on that show. Says Mr. Hagen, "Harvey didn't talk about it much but when he did he always talked about how many of the wrestlers were queer." Queer Wrestlers? In Alberta where the marginalization of homosexuals is encouraged by many of those in power, particularly in the government? Can such a thing be true?

Both Mr. Hagen, who is gay, and Mr. Borg, who is straight, are quick to point out the homoerotic elements of the sport. Says Mr. Borg, "We had to wrestle in high school and I remember thinking at that time, This is so Gay." Large, muscular, nearly naked men grappling and sweating on each other. There's no denying that both the activity and imagery have a certain homoerotic appeal. Mr. Borg and Mr. Hagen found much of their thematic material in this apparent discrepancy and the many questions about male sexuality and sensuality it evoked. "See it's homoerotic but it's okay for men to be homoerotic with each other while they're wrestling because they're also hurting each other. With straight men that's okay" says Mr. Borg. The same can be said of many gay men, which might explain the apparent cross over.

Says Mr. Hagen, " After Harvey died he left Kevin all this stuff. I was going through this box and it was all sequined capes and lame trunks and leather gear and I was like "Honey I could use this stuff for drag." In fact a number of Mr. Jones' wrestling costumes have made it into the show which has already proven to be a hit at the Winnipeg Fringe.

The writers, who also perform in the show with a number of other well-known local performers, found further inspiration for their script by perusing wrestling newsletters from the period. Says Mr. Hagen, "Once you realize that a large number of these guys were gay and you start reading between the lines suddenly little notes like Why are Killer Kramer and Gorgeous Whoever traveling in different trailers? take one a whole new meaning. From there we saw a number of wrestling events, large and small, talked up the characters and locked ourselves in a cabin for a few days. We stocked up with some magic mushrooms, a ton of junk food and a huge bag of pot and wrote for two days straight. Then it was a lot of hard work and rehearsal to get it onstage."

In an inspired reversal of the colour blind and gender nonspecific casting movement that is transforming the theatre Brad Moss, director of PileDriver, has cast all straight actors as the gay characters and Hagen as the show's lone straight male. I ask Borg about the challenges of playing a gay character in a show that's raunchy and sexually charged. Mr. Borg scratches his shaved head philosophically and says, "I'm getting better at it. I have to kiss another character and that was hard at first." Mr. Hagen laughs, "We didn't see the kiss until the first show. It was worse than if they'd had to do nudity." Mr. Borg nods, "Now it's just about the stubble. I have problems with the stubble."

When asked about the differences in putting together a wrestling show rather than the drag shows he's known for Mr. Hagen shrugs indifferently. "It's not that different. Wrestling's a lot like drag. With the good ones you never see the moves. With the bad ones you can tell they don't know the words."