Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul Pope, Andie Egan Jr., David Allen.

The spirit and ethos Grin Theatre’s much talked about Queertet production of four short plays can be seen in this year’s opening production; that of John Maines’ Pulse. The spirit that lives in the Liverpool LGBT community, the feeling of acceptance and recognition is highlighted by the fun and the outrageous, the touch of the mystery and the overall entertaining that plays such as Pulse provide.

Being a superhero is not all about saving the day and the oppressed from tyranny and evil, it is also about dealing with the duality that lives within us all, regardless of whether straight or gay, bi-sexual or transgender, there is a two sided coin that is continually spinning, one side the mask is off and people see the real you, the other and the intangibility, the illusion is held and the darkness becomes all too real.

It is this duality of spirit, of the unspoken need to be seen for who we truly want to be seen as that makes Pulse, not just an enjoyable romp, but a graphic exercise, a leap of faith into the unknown and one that all should take if their true selves should be seen, even as the play alludes to by refusing to bend over backwards for a weekly wage in a job that makes you unhappy.

Pulse and Throb are locked in a perpetual war, one trying to save people and the obstacles that go hand in hand with such great responsibility, the other locked in a torment that wants to make everyone the same. Having developed a powerful weapon that turns everybody Bi, Throb sets about his evil scheme and only the masked saviour of Liverpool can save all.

It is this undercurrent of a powerful message that makes Pulse a worthy subject and even discounting the humour that rides through like a hefty stallion in a summer meadow, it is the thought of why people always insist that everybody should be the same that really settles the play. Nobody should ever insist upon that state of being, so why some continue to suggest that we should all pray, live and do what we must with our own private collection is beyond anyone with a firm sense of justice and a grip on the truth of being human.

Queertet is a fabulously important event in Liverpool’s diary and with Pulse the 2015 showing got off to a marvellous start.

Ian D. Hall