Off-B'way Review: Prince Faggot

John McCrea and Mihir Kumar in
Prince Faggot.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

When Prince Harry of England married Meghan Markle, an African-American actress, in 2018, I was teaching high school. On the Monday morning after their royal wedding, I was sitting in the faculty lounge with a colleague, an older white woman. When I asked her what she thought of the monumental nuptials, she responded with anger and dismay over the presence of an African-American minister and a black gospel choir. I opined that it was Meghan’s wedding and she could have whatever or whoever she wanted there; the minister and the choir were reflecting her culture. My fellow educator just bristled with indignation that if it were Harry’s brother’s wedding, such a transgression would never be tolerated by his grandmother the Queen. I later realized that my co-worker was really fuming over the intrusion of black identity onto her lily-white ideal of the British royal family. 

N'yomi Allure Stewart and John McCrea
in Prince Faggot.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

Jordan Tannahill goes several steps further with his imaginative and riveting fantasy Prince Faggot, now in a co-production from Playwrights Horizons and Soho Rep in PH’s intimate Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Starting off from the infamous photo of toddler Prince George striking what could be interpreted as a fey pose, Tannahill imagines a future where George has grown up to become the first (openly) gay heir to the throne. To add to the drama, his boyfriend and potential spouse Dev is a Brit of Indian descent with radical views on the monarchy. The provocative plot (and the even more provocative title) are used to explore what happens when racial, sexual, and gender barriers fall and queerness and otherness in general intrude onto traditionally majority-only spaces. My co-worker would have probably run screaming from the theater. The sex and language are explicit and realistic. Kudos to UnkleDave’s Fight-House, who usually coordinate onstage battles, but here are listed as intimacy coordinators and are responsible for a different kind of contact.

Tannahill adds another layer of meaning by having the cast of six—four gay men and two transgender women—directly address the audience as versions of themselves and explaining how the issues raised by the play have impacted them. In a program note, the author clarifies that two of monologues are based on the actors’ actual experience and the rest are fictional. 

The author also addresses the ideas of masculinity and femininity, queer and straight identity in children and whether they should be recognized. The opening discussion among the cast about Prince George’s photo called to mind Andrew Sullivan’s recent op-ed in the NY Times in which he argues that the LGBTQ community is losing political ground and popular acceptance because of its perceived support of gender-affirming care for pre-adolescents.

Rachel Crowl and K. Todd Freeman in
Prince Faggot.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

Tannahill’s remarkably clever and cogent script raises these difficult topics and is full of sharp comedy and relatable pathos. Shayok Misha Chowdhury directs with punch and pace, aided by Isabella Byrd’s smashing lighting and Lee Kinney’s throbbing sound design and original music. We are transported from glamorous palaces to down-and-dirty discos, from inside the play to outside observing it in a twinkling thanks to David Zinn’s versatile set and Chowdhury’s cinematic staging.

David Greenspan in Prince Faggot.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

The dazzling cast delivers fully fleshed characterization which go far beyond the satiric. John McCrea and Mihir Kumar turn in mulit-levelled work as George and Dev, beautifully conveying their passion as well as their internal conflicts dealing with the immense pressure being under the merciless media spotlight as well as the eye of history. Award-winning veteran performer and playwright David Greenspan stands out in variety of roles including the comically efficient female royal press secretary (hilariously outfitted in a tastefully chic white pantsuit by costume designer Montana Levi Blanco), a sympathetic butler, and in a meta-version of himself relating how the AIDS crisis devastated his community and altered his ideas about certain sexual practices. K. Todd Freeman brings authority and struggle to Prince William, George’s father, and to a powerful monologue on racial assumptions. Rachel Crowl and N’yomi Allure Stewart add humor and bite to the royal mother Kate and sister Charlotte as well as heartfelt and moving recounting of the trans experience. 

Ultimately, Tannahill seems to saying that we need to find the divine and royal within ourselves no matter our sexuality, gender or race. He also gives us a lot to laugh over and ponder in this complex play which is both a brilliant satire and a probing think piece. 

June 17—Aug. 3. Playwrights Horizons and Soho Rep at Playwrights Horizons/Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 W. 42nd St., NYC. Running time: two hours with no intermission. playwrightshorizons.org.