By Jennifer Beasley.
Raw, authentic and captivating, Countertenor Glenn McKenzie time travels with their beautiful singing as they unfold the life of 18th Century Castrato, Gaetano Guadagni, in this performance where vulnerability collides with disability and transmutes into beauty.
Neurodiverse and Queer Countertenor Glenn McKenzie performs a very interesting meta theatre that seems one thing, then another, until it takes its theme, What was I made for/what is the self, and then enmeshes the audience into one construct of ‘selfhood’.
Intriguing.
To be self-possessed means to be composed in mind or manner. Calm. Why then this title? The answer to that becomes evident as the show progresses.
McKenzie acts the role of Castrato (meaning castrated, although that didn’t stop him from having many lovers) mezzo-soprano Gaetano Guadagni, who was a very famous operatic singer in Italy and England from 1728-1792, and who died from the effects of a stroke, suffering for two years being unable to communicate except through puppets. A fitting subject for McKenzie who also suffers in a variety of ways that make the act of existing very cumbersome indeed.
Dropping into and out of character, where the role of Guadagni questions McKenzie as the self, while still being ‘their self’, the life of Guadagni is explored both through monologue and song, where the soaring voice of McKenzie transports me into another age. I find myself calm. Self-possessed.
Having broken this performance into chapters, McKenzie’s good humour and vocals sit well within the Bluestone Arts Space. Although at times they struggle with some of the notes, I felt the blasting air conditioning assisted in this, and other audience members were equally constricted if the coughing fits were anything to go by.
However, then McKenzie completely drops character after a rather gorgeous aria rendition from Chistoph Gluck’s groundbreaking opera (at the time in 1762), Orpheus and Eurydice.
They have dysregulated.
I certainly know something about dysregulated nervous systems, and, as McKenzie’s vulnerable discourse explains their disability to the audience, including the painful masking of the self, the lines between the performance, the subject matter and reality become blurred.
The topic of being an outsider to the outsider comes up. What then is the self, if you cannot fit into the LGBTQ+ definition?
Showing extraordinary strength, McKenzie tells the audience that they have survived this earth for 70 years, 30 years of which their sexuality was criminalised, and many friends, lovers and acquaintances have since left this world.
Regathering their thoughts, although no longer invested in the story of Guadagni (which is problematic from the viewpoint of a theatre critic, however this show is trying to do something esoteric, so I consider it allowable), McKenzie finishes with the heartbreaking What Was I Made For, by Billie Ellish.
Then, expressing the ultimate vulnerability, they stand very nearly naked – exposed and accepting of all their perceived faults, with the gorgeous projected backdrop of painted wings and a halo of flowers (artwork by Junko Hagiwara)- a visual descriptor that elevates the humane into the divine.
They are inferring, do you see me? I am myself.
I know I certainly felt I saw them, as I felt I saw myself.
A very thought-provoking performance that embraces all the mistakes and errors of being a self that is incomplete, yet at the same time, complete. For some reason the broken narrative works, and maybe that is because it touches the core qualities that make us human.
My companion, a respected psychologist, felt the connection, and we never thought the 75-minute run time excessive. Touching, thoughtful, fragmented and open, I commend McKenzie on their presence and vocal talents.
The Self-Possessed is playing at 6:30 pm at Bluestone Arts Space until 7th February 2026.
