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The Black Eye
A Short Play
By Jim Dalglish
When an aging gay man asks a street-wise kid if he needs a lift home, is he prepared to go where the dangerous young man is about to take him?
"He's seeing himself for the first time. Look at him. Nothing on this earth is more beautiful." - Narrator
Gareth Watkins and Graham Townsend appearing in the London production of The Black Eye
Reviews
"The Black Eye by Jim Dalglish follows an ageing cruiser whose indulgence in every variety of sexual pleasure has sated his libido to the point of expiry. A chance encounter with a straight youngster tempts him to try out a new thrill, the conversion-seduction, but at the critical moment he deliberately sabotages his own efforts, knowing that even this novel excitement will leave him dissatisfied. The play has the feel of lived experience intelligently analysed and transfused with marvellous clarity into a dramatic lament on the perils of sexual anhedonia. This is a universal human topic which has provoked comment from three of the last century’s foremost sages. Beckett: ‘Habit is a great deadener.’ Stoppard: ‘What free love is free of is love.’ Lemmy: ‘If you get hit on the skull with a hammer at 7 every morning you eventually get used to it.’" - Lloyd Evans (reviewing the London production, Voices of Reason, Spectator.
Awards
Best Play; International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, 2022 (finalist)
Best Short Play; Edward Albee Last Frontier Festival, 2001.
Characters
Narrator - Large, powerful man in his mid forties to late fifties. He wears leather pants and a motorcycle jacket.
Young Man - Dangerous-looking man in his early twenties
Place
Germantown neighborhood of Quincy -- a suburb of Boston
Time
Tonight -- 2:00 am
Scenic Elements
Stage is bare with the exception of three chairs that suggest the driver’s seat, passenger seat, and rear seat of a car. The driving wheel, car door, etc. can be mimed by the actors.
Length
18 mins.
Type
Comedy / Drama
Themes
The pursuit of sex at the expense of love and intimacy; male sexual confusion; gay panic; gay bashing
Acting Class Scenes
Entire play: dialog between late 40s male; early 20s male.
Script Completed
Fall 2000
Production History
Quickies: 4 short plays from Provincetown, Art House, Co-production with Provincetown Dramatic Arts & Mark Cortale Productions, Provincetown, MA, 9/12/2022- 9/23/2022 (Full Production) Cast: Joe MacDougall, Tommy Walsh, Director: Jim Dalglish
Quickies: 4 short plays from Provincetown, Producer: Provincetown Dramatic Arts, Dublin, Ireland, International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, 5/09/2022- 5/19/2022 (Full Production) Cast: Joe MacDougall, Tommy Walsh, Director: Jim Dalglish
American Briefs, Above the Stag Theater, London, UK10/28/08 - 11/23/08 (Full Production) Cast and Director: Gareth Watkins (Narrator); Graham Towns (Young Man); Peter Gun (Director)
Provincetown Theatre Company, Massachusetts, 7/28/03- 8/14/03 (Full Production) Cast and Director: Jim Dalglish (Narrator); Ben Koppleman (Young Man); Jim Dalglish & Lynda Sturner (Directors)
Theatrefest,Newburyport, Massachusetts, 5/18/01 (Full Production) Cast and Director: John Andert (Narrator); Jim Dalglish (Young Man); Margaret Van Sant (Director)
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