With a truly stunning, funny, and profoundly emotional exploration of modern masculinity through dance, stunt work, and personal stories, the Edinburgh Fringe hit “Stuntman” at The Place, London, from Fox Banks, Pete Lannon and Scottish company “Superfan”, encourages us to face the question: What does it mean to be male?
Let me start with a simple question for all the men out there. What factors, both social, educational, emotional, and familial, made you the man you are today? It’s a question we rarely ask ourselves, and it can be challenging to answer, for it requires us to look back at the boy, the teen, and the man, and explore the pressures, expectations, behaviours, and emotions that were the building blocks of who we are today.
Masculinity means something different to each of us, yet it comes with a whole host of predefined social, educational and familial expectations from the minute you are born. According to many online commentators, you should never be weak, submissive, humble or vulnerable. Instead, you must be strong, resilient, emotionally controlled, powerful, athletic, analytical, and dominant. They want you to believe that being male is a choice between being a hero or a villain, when in reality, if you listen to them, you are really nothing but a victim of those who believe in pigeonholing you.
In truth, you can be the man you want to be, free from these damaging expectations. But to become that man, you first need to understand the pressures to conform that surround you. Digging deep into these discussions through a truly stunning, funny, and profoundly emotional exploration of modern masculinity through dance, stunt work, and personal stories, the Edinburgh Fringe hit Stuntman, co-created by Fox Banks and Pete Lannon and presented by “Superfan,” encourages us to face the question: What does it mean to be male?
Taking the age-old action-movie representation of masculinity as a foundation, Stuntman opens with Sadiq Ali and Fox Banks reenacting classic scenes from movies most of us are well aware of, each ending with a “See you in hell, motherfucker” kill shot. It’s funny, electric, beautifully choreographed, and a lot of fun, like watching two boys reenact their favourite movie moments on a field outside their homes before being called for tea.
However, these routines serve a deeper purpose as Ali and Banks discuss their own experiences —from childhood to the present —highlighting the social, educational, and familial pressures many boys and young men face on the road to adulthood. There is humour in the stories, but also vulnerability, uncertainty, fear, and violence—not the playful violence of their stunts, but the deep emotional wounds that refuse to heal and are rarely discussed, often out of fear of being seen as vulnerable.
The experiences shared by Ali and Banks are intersectional, crossing divides of race, class, and sexuality, and this makes them all the more potent in their ability to delve deeply into the shared male experience. The physical elements of the performance are simply breathtaking —a thrilling, energetic masterclass in dance, movement, and stunt work. But at the heart of this intimate and exhilarating performance lies an urgent call for us to understand the pressures, expectations and behaviours that shape the journey from boy to man. Stuntman encourages us to challenge the foundations of those socially accepted building blocks and reflect on how they have become damaging norms over time, in an exquisite piece of performance art that all boys and men should see.
Stuntman is currently touring the UK with upcoming performances in Glasgow, Carrbridge, Haddington and Edinburgh. For more details, visit the tour site.
Follow Us