Newcity Stage

Theater, Dance, Comedy and Performance in Chicago

“Brokeback Mountain” Brings Queer Intimacy to a Grand Wyoming Setting Chicago Shakespeare Theater stages the U.S. premiere of Ashley Robinson’s adaptation, presenting Annie Proulx’s love story as a play with music.

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by Rob Silverman Ascher
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A young man in a brown jacket and ripped jeans sits outdoors at night, looking thoughtful. A white tent is visible in the background, and a bottle sits on the ground nearby. The scene is dimly lit with a blue tint.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Brokeback Mountain,” with Jack Cameron Kay/Photo: Kyle Flubacker

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Ashley Robinson’s adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain,” in its U.S. premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, is indebted to its source text, stirring in its portrayal of the violence of the closet and the contradictions of American homophobia. Directed by British director Jonathan Butterell, who also directed its 2023 premiere in London, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Brokeback” presents Proulx’s love story as a play with music.

Kat Eggleston plays an omniscient Balladeer, bringing to mind Lucinda Williams as she underscores Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar’s twenty-year love story via Dan Gillespie Sells’ songs, accompanied by an onstage band featuring Tom McGettrick’s sweet pedal steel and Paul Mertens’ lonesome harmonica. As Jack, Jack Cameron Kay (of Netflix’s gay Army hit “Boots”) vividly illustrates the ways that Jack’s blustery facade covers the desperation underneath. Harrison Ball, a recently-retired ballet dancer, similarly unmasks the deep sensitivity Ennis covers with his silence, detachment and eventual violence.

Robinson’s adaptation also pinpoints the risks of being queer in Wyoming from the sixties through the eighties. When Jack, exasperated, tells Ennis, “we got ourselves a situation,” he’s pointedly not referring to a fling. Both men are deeply aware of the rampant homophobia and the violent consequences of being out. A harsh irony emerges in contrasting their shame with the colonial mythos of their environment. These guys can do whatever they want in the West, as long as they stay married to women.

Two people in heavy jackets stand close together in the cold, with one person embracing the other from behind. Their faces are illuminated against a dark, misty background, creating a dramatic atmosphere.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Brokeback Mountain,” with Harrison Ball and Jack Cameron Kay/Photo: Kyle Flubacker

Unfortunately, some of the finer details of Robinson’s text get lost in Tom Pye’s appropriately vast set. In tandem with David Finn’s dreamy lighting design, Pye’s set affords Brokeback Mountain, where Jack and Ennis first met as ranch hands, the mystic quality the two men have imbued it with. Ashley Robinson’s rendition of “Brokeback Mountain” is a deeply literary piece of theater, intimate in its grand setting.

“Brokeback Mountain” is on stage at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Jentes Family Courtyard Theater, 800 East Grand, through June 28. Tickets available here.