It takes two

As the conversation with the man behind the play Tango Masculino progresses, the identity of the person responsible for the work becomes a little confusing.

Jeffery Corrick is chatting from his New York home, but he is talking about the work of playwright Clint Jefferies, who has penned Tango Masculino as well as such other gay-themed works as The Jocker and Nile Blue.

It should be explained now that Jeffery Corrick and Clint Jefferies are the same person. Corrick, a director, writes under the name of Jefferies to keep his two roles in the world of New York theatre separate.

I just like to keep them apart, Corrick, who is also artistic director of the Wings Theatre Company, says. I didn’t want my work as a director to become mixed in with my work as a writer, so that’s the reason behind the two names.

Corrick is travelling to Sydney this month to see Tango Masculino produced at the New Theatre as part of the Mardi Gras season. It is the first staging of the play since it premiered in 2002.

Tango Masculino is set in Buenos Aires in the early years of the 20th century.

Rosendo is a man who uses sex to demonstrate his power. When young Jorge arrives with no money, he seeks the mentoring of Rosendo.

Their relationship develops into a powerful tango of sexual intensity as Jorge’s lust for domination grows and is met by Rosendo’s silent need to surrender control.

Directed by Barry French, the New Theatre production of Tango Masculino stars Shane Rodrigo, Paulo Benevides, and Paul Cordeiro, who also choreographs the dance.

The play really is about power and control in relationships and men’s need to dominate other males, Corrick says.

The story behind this project is, years ago, I was looking for material for a new play and I saw this documentary which had some grainy silent film of a group of men tangoing together. I decided to check it out and see what that was all about.

At the same time, I had some curiosity about the dom-sub relationships in the gay community. As I was trying to figure out the structure of this play, it just happened that those two areas of interest met in a very nice way.

Corrick has not written a play since Nile Blue premiered in 2003. Since then, he cared for his partner, Milton, who died in August of the past year.

Puerto Rican-born Milton helped with some of the Spanish translations for Tango Masculino, and Corrick admits that while he is excited by this new production, it also brings some emotions with it.

This will be the first time I have seen this staged since losing him, he says. We were together for 20 years and it has been five months now.

But I am getting on track and I want to be inspired to write again and am happy to wait until I feel like that.

Perhaps that will change soon -“ let’s see if that changes while I am in Australia, he adds, just a little hopefully.

Tango Masculino plays at the New Theatre, Newtown, until 2 March. Bookings on 1300 306 776.