Jonathan Wilson on My Night with Reg: shocking comedy, devastating tragedy, the gay voice, and dongs

by Drew Rowsome

"It's so funny," says Jonathan Wilson of his role in My Night with Reg. "It's so beautifully written. It's shockingly funny and then shockingly tragic within seconds. The humour is so bracing, so true to life. The mix of comedy and tragedy. It's quite a startling play in that way."

Wilson is experienced in comedy, tragedy and everything in between having created his own works My Own Private Idaho and Kilt, earned a Dora for playing Timon in The Lion King, time with Second City, and turning in a remarkable dramatic performance in The Normal Heart. "It's been the story of my whole career," he says. "A friend of mine called me the Canadian theatre Zelig. 'Why is Jonathan in that? How'd he wind up there?' I guess that's kind of true but it's been fantastic to go to all those different kinds of worlds. As a young actor you dream of doing all of those things. I love the mix. Bring it on."

Studio 180 who are producing My Night with Reg with Mirvish have a history of bringing it on. "The material they pick is just that sweet spot of danger with a bit of an edge," says Wilson. "My Night with Reg has never been done in Toronto so it's fresh to this audience. It was a hit in New York and a West End revival a few years ago. Artistic director Joel Greenberg and his company have such a great reputation that actors are really really interested in whatever they do." So of course My Night with Reg has "an incredible group of actors. It's a joy to work with them every day. The script is so rich and detailed. That bitchiness and bitchy humour and this incredible compassionate love they have for each other. Loves, affections, grudges, retributions . . . it's a great show for actors. Gives everyone a great chance to show what they can do."

One of Wilson's onstage foils is fellow The Normal Heart alumni Jeff Miller (Cock). "Jeff and I got the experience of The Normal Heart but My Night with Reg also echoes our friendship," says Wilson. "We've been friends for over 25 years. We went to theatre school together and we're roommates. He knows where all the bodies are buried: the exes, the boyfriends . . . So to be onstage with him again and share this kind of play with him . . . He's a talented guy. He was a year ahead of me in school and I used to follow him around in the hallways, be in awe of him, try to talk to him but he was too cool for me at the time. But we're like family now."

My Night with Reg is according to Wilson, about that concept of family, "The great thing about My Night with Reg is that the six gay men who are at the centre of the play, their sexuality is never an issue. None of them are struggling with their sexuality, none of them are struggling with coming out. It's them out living their lives proudly. They're fully actualized. It's so frank in its sexuality. It's unapologetic. It's really honest about interactions between friends, lovers who overlap, friends that become lovers, lovers that become friends. It's so beautifully queer and in your face."

The London West End revival got a lot of publicity for a nude scene featuring a Downton Abbey actor. Prurient minds want to know about the Toronto production. "There will be some nudity in the show." says Wilson. "It's a beautiful beautiful scene. I hate to disappoint everyone but it's not me. That's one of the great things about the show, it really embraces the homoeroticism, the sexuality at the centre of the piece. It really plays with intimacy, physical contact, love and nudity, the beauty of the male body. So yes, there will be dongs onstage."

Wilson returns again to My Night with Reg's blend of outrageous comedy and stark tragedy. He settles on the concept of the gay voice that is so rare on stage and so astounding when encountered, "The characters are able to cut through the maudlin moments with the witticisms and the sharp comedy. And that makes it more tragic or more comic, depending on the moment. I remember an acting teacher telling me that there is no difference between comedy and tragedy. They exist on the same line, the same breath, in the same moment. And that's what Kevin Elyot has done with My Night with Reg. It's raucous, it's bawdy, it's funny and then so devastating. And then funny again."