National Theatre of Scotland Workshop
and Burnt Goods present
adapted by Tam Dean Burn
from the novel by Luke Sutherland
4 - 22 September 2007
In a room in Soho, a dying man is turning gold.
He has a gift. With just one touch or kiss, he can reveal a glimpse of heaven in all its resplendent glory. Some call him Cupid. Or Venus as a Boy.
Journeying from his turbulent childhood in Orkney - haunted by the girl he betrayed and the lover he never escaped, travelling south through the Highlands and Edinburgh, he finds himself in the seedy underbelly of Soho, where pimps and hormones and a transsexual called Wendy finally break him.
'True love was never going to be my reward . . . My reward is the understanding that, for those I’ve touched, knowledge of me is knowledge of the divine.'
Performed by award-wining actor Tam Dean Burn with live music from Luke Sutherland, Venus as a Boy is an explosive and haunting story about the miraculous power of sex.
'Burn is a revelation, pushing way beyond his comfort zone to be all but unrecognisable in a heart wrenching display of naked and emotionally fearless story-telling... Heart-breaking, audacious and outrageous.'
The Herald *****
'It's wild and extreme, but Tam Dean Burn's performance is a tour de force, a brilliantly-pitched piece of theatrical craftmanship... and a glittering challenge to every kind of bigotry.'
The Scotsman ****
