Review On Handjob

September 13th, 2019

Gil Kaan

Writer, Registered Critic

The Echo Theater Company presents a stunning world premiere of Erik Patterson's HANDJOB. Echo Theatre's artistic director Chris Fields quite ably directs his talented cast, as two sets of actors alternately depict the scenario of a curious, middle-aged gay man hiring a shirtless housekeeper/cleaner for a session of cleaning, leering and lusting. Patterson's very witty and smart script of clever puns and sharp observations gets even more witty and even smarter after a big reveal, that I won't be spoiling.

Gil Kaan, a former Managing Editor of the now-defunct Genre magazine, has had the privilege of photographing and interviewing some major divas in his career, including Ann-Margret, Diana Ross, Faye Dunaway, Carol Channing, Shirley MacLaine, Catherine Deneuve, Liza Minnelli, Sandra Bernhard, Anna Nicole Smith, Margaret Cho, and three Catwomen—Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriwether and Julie Newmar. He had the fortuitous opportunity to conduct Lily Tomlin’s coming out interview. Gil has since reviewed movies and theatre for a number of local and national outlets.
A photo montage of Gil’s Halloween Carnavale photos through the last decade was recently included in the WeHo@ 25 juried exhibition.