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# BOOK REVIEW: ‘No Straight White Men’ by Paul Stone
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/book-review-no-straight-white-men-by-paul-stone/
- Published: 2023-09-05T08:00:58.000Z
- Updated: 2023-09-05T07:38:02.000Z
- Description: Brian Butler finds Paul Stone’s anthology of queer monologues intriguing
- Author: Brian Butler
- Tags: Books, King’s Head Theatre

I have known **Paul Stone** for a fair few years through his drag incarnation **Victoria Sponge**. But as a playwright he has adapted the acid one-liners of drag and panto into a series of monologues and sketches which he’s now published as an anthology.

I recently reviewed his full length monodrama *For Queen And Country* when it ran at the now closed **King’s Head Theatre** in Islington. That was a play based on real life: the life of a British spy/drag artist. It was gripping and darkly funny.

This anthology, cheekily named ***No Straight White Men***, shows a fascinating breadth of characterisation in miniature and all the items have been presented either in a theatre or on radio.

Like a good caricaturist he gives us a distilled essence – young women searching into their past, a drag performer hitting 50, a man who discovers a deep secret about his father. Paul’s other great trademark here is the sting in the tail, which often surprises and delights. He leads us gently down wayward paths, then lets a tree almost fall on us.

In *Super (market) Maya*, he portrays a check-out woman in her late 40s who tells us: “you can do the wrong thing just for a moment in times like these”. But the two-pager has a big sting to its storyline.

In *The Devil Loves Silver*, a gay man (Joe) confronts a bigoted barmaid, Maureen. He tells us “it was in the church I first realised I was gay. I was 11.” It’s a lovely little piece with a great comeuppance.

*Christmas Stockings* features Lizzy, a young woman. “My dad was the first person to tell me that Rudolph was a girl,” is its opening line. And it goes on: “I thought Christmas was all about the boys – Joseph, three wise men, the little drummer boy.” As she tells us further: ”I was born on Christmas Day. I was quite ill but nothing too serious. When the doctors told my dad his Christmas baby was in a stable condition, he laughed.” The monologue is about an absent mother and a caring father. And it ends with a huge surprise – let’s just say her father spent his whole life “not being himself.”

*Mother’s Day* also has a dramatic opening, as Ella (40) tells us: “I don’t like my son.” It’s a tale of an estranged father, a highly obnoxious offspring, and the fateful life of Floppy, the unwanted pet rabbit. It’s a revenge story with a sting in Floppy’s tail.

*Lost Boy* features Billie, a gay man and a drag act who can say things in a dress and wig he’d never get away with as a man. But it’s also about hiding, losing your true self. As he says: “for 45 minutes I disappear.” In school PE lessons the lads called him Cinderella, “as I ran away from the ball”. But the guys who like him dressed up don’t fancy him later when he’s a man. It’s a very touching piece.

It would be great if a small venue producer picked up this anthology and mounted it; I’m sure it will happen.

And the title? Paul explains: “it’s actually my first piece of advice for aspiring writers. The majority of scripts received for any call-out will focus on straight white men, so if you’ve written anything else, you’ll stand a good chance of getting to the top of pile.”

**The anthology is published by Amazon, price £10**