We all know that Pride started as a protest, right? But did you know that Toronto’s Pride has a similar origin story? The history of Toronto’s queer village is almost as old as the city itself, and yet few of us know the details. Jonathan Wilson takes audiences back to 1979 in his solo show A Public Display of Affection, directed by Mark McGrinder, to discuss queer life at the time as well as grapple with his newfound position as a queer elder. Packed with jokes, facts, and incredible stories, A Public Display of Affection is a public display of queer joy.

Jonathan Wilson has been asked to give a speech at the “2025 Queer Elder Speaking Series.” He’s here to talk about queer joy and hope from his perspective as a queer elder. However, what we hear is a heartrending personalized account of Toronto’s queer community going back to when Wilson first came to the “big city” from Oshawa. Wilson discusses everything from the bath houses, to afternoons at Hanlon’s Point, to protests and how the police had clearly chosen sides, to losing loved ones to AIDS. It is a time capsule of Toronto’s queer community at a time when it was massively under attack; but the focus isn’t entirely on those who were lost, it’s also on those who have survived and what they can tell the newer generations.

Denyse Karn’s set and projection design make great use of the LED screens at Crows to create everything from a rainbow cityscape to showing photos of news headlines, club posters, and protests. Audiences are able to see first hand the seminal moments Wilson describes, and it certainly adds into this idea that he’s doing a TED-talk style seminar for the audience. André du Toit’s lighting design is also helpful to indicate the moments where we’re immersed in Wilsons memories and when we’re actively being addressed as members attending this seminar.

An element which had the greatest impact on me was the audience; I attended a matinee and found myself surrounded by other queer elders like Wilson. At the mere mention of a date or a place or a name, the choruses of “mhm” or “oh yes” which would emerge from the audience made it instantaneously clear that this was their history too. These are also moments from their lives which they’re able to relive and re-investigate via Wilson’s show. One of the main messages which Wilson is trying to impart through A Public Display of Affection is that the queer elders are out there and that was physically evident in the room as we witnessed this work together. At that point, it becomes so much more than the person and their stories or all of us being in the room together to experience art, it’s an act of collective memory and storytelling that we don’t often find; there’s a certain gravitas and also pride that was palpable in the room and it made the performance all the more special.

Jonathan Wilson is an engaging and charismatic storyteller. Watching him transform into his dearest friends of the time was amazing: a raised shoulder and a hand clutching invisible pearls, or his hands deep in his pockets, and there was no doubt as to who was speaking. The way the stories are woven together with facts about the time or anecdotes of Wilson’s own experiences make A Public Display of Affection the most engaging history lecture you’ve ever been to, while also feeling like you’re having a conversation with a good friend. 

Another heartbreaking moment for me, and the only time where I felt like I saw Wilson drop his performance-self and just be, is when he lists the names of his friends who are no longer with him. As he spoke their names, and the list was long, I felt that tell-tale lump build up in my throat as the heads of the audience members around me shook with sadness. It got me thinking: they must have lists too, long ones, just like Wilson. Heck, even I have a list like that. And in that there is a deep hurt and silence which filled the room, one that comes with profound understanding. But by speaking their names, and by bringing some of them to life through this play, those folks get to live on in the minds and hearts of those who may not have known them then, but have come to know them through this piece.

I don’t think twice before I hold my partner’s hand while we’re walking or put my arm around him on the subway. It’s a privilege of being a cis-het white female in love with a cis-het white male. Nothing about our displays of affection towards each other is political or radical. Just as Wilson wishes us long life and old age at the end of A Public Display of Affection, my wish is for no one’s love for another be considered subversive or out of the norm. My wish is for everyone to feel comfortable holding hands on a streetcar, or sharing a kiss on the street in the rain. 

A Public Display of Affection runs in the Studio Theatre at Streetcar Crowsnest until April 20. For more information and tickets, visit: https://studio180theatre.com/productions/a-public-display-of-affection-2/

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Cover Photo: Jonathan Wilson. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

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