The Ascent of Brokeback

It's a rare treat to be read to once you've left childhood.

Last night a group of friends came over to to my house for supper and to hear Jaeson Iskandar's performed reading of Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx's long short story about two cowboys who meet while shepherding in the mountains and begin a relationship which lasts a lifetime. Arguably the most moving of all gay love stories; never mentioning the word love, scarcely allowing the main characters to acknowledge their homosexuality. The language is gritty, even austere which makes the story it carries even more poignant. (And I'm reminded yet again that Proulx is my favourite writer, and in a thousand lifetimes I would never be able to approach her prose style. *Sigh*)



And Jaeson read it so beautifully: it seemed that the voices of Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist spoke through him as he brought out every nuance of emotion in an performance as restrained as it was heartfelt. And goodness, his Wyoming accent never flagged.

This is a performance looking for a wider audience, which I hope Jaeson finds.

Just as I hope that he will soon be performing his own words again. It’s been a while since the performance of his monologues I’m not Talking to My Mother & Other Stories, Blood and Love Songs at Actor’s Studio. I've seen his writing and I know it sings.

And it was a great night for friendships - these folks brought together from different corners of my life, and hitting it off as if they'd always known each other. The conversation went on to almost one a.m. and still everyone was reluctant to move.



Jaes