←Recommendations of Kingdom of Animals

Barry Smoot's KINGDOM OF ANIMALS is a one-two gut punch of queer romance and religious trauma. I have read almost nothing so visceral and aggressively beautiful. The entire play is a dance of sensual violence with a powerful payoff. The themes of religious trauma, internalized homophobia, and generational curse hit especially close to home. You know the play is good when you have to stop multiple times while reading to sob uncontrollably. This play is going to consume my thoughts for months.

Barry Smoot's KINGDOM OF ANIMALS is a fascinating and feral depiction of how internalized queerphobia passed down generationally causes the human body to reject any form of authentic intimacy for the sake of survival, particularly in a world not designed to embrace queer intimacy.

Smoot recommended this play to me after reading one of mine. I hadn't seen his recommendation to read it for a while, but very thankful I did. As a fellow Texan, I have found so much in Smoot's writing. There is such a pay off to getting through the play. The idea of fear within any kind of intimacy was something that I think many queer people who grew up in not so accepting circumstances can relate to. If you have the chance you have to read this play, it is so moving!

Uncompromisingly bloody and in-your-face, KINGDOM OF ANIMALS grabs you from the first utterance and it never lets go. Intense dialogue and action propels an interesting plot. The level of intimacy required and emotional turmoil caused by reluctant realizations will prove fitting challenges to actors and directors. But the pay-off is immense. Unsettling and uncomfortable, this is demanding theatre that provides a memorable experience. Very well done.

This is gritty, violent, honest, and examines the very salient gap between disgust and attraction. This is very, very engaging and I share the sentiment that I would love to see this onstage.

Real intimacy so terrifies these men that it can only lead to violence. Sam and Brian share histories of abandonment and a moving memory of their grandfathers passing. They share the experience of creating art. They differ on the matter of religious faith. And all these surface details are inadequate to explain the primal attraction and revulsion that they share. This play gets at a truth that is beyond words as we watch these men struggle with multiple layers of feeling. It is an intense and honest journey.

It's a gritty and sometimes bloody story of Sam and Brian speaking wicked lines and raw truths after their first drunken night. The razor sharp dialog reveals pained insights both men buried for years. Smoot skillfully adds a layer of intrigue with the tale of their grandfathers. Brilliant! All the messy loose ends are "tied" together; for now. What started as a contest between two opposites combines into a whole of human dignity and compassion surviving within a society that often denies it. Kingdom of Animals is fearless and fantastic.

Duelling agendas slowly revealed the morning after, strangers who are not quite, and tension in 40 different flavors. An engrossing look at a past event still unfolding. Would love to see this staged.

The play is an effective back and forth struggle, starting innocently enough but then progressing into a raw, intimate, and yes, sometimes violent look at the lives of these two characters. The conversation between the two is real and certainly provocative. An insightful view into two histories intertwined by something more than fate, perhaps.

Riveting. Would pair very nicely with Gary Garrison's Game On.