On TV

AT first glance, Antony Thomas's documentary Middle Sex looked like an addition to the current fad for "freak show TV", in which those with physical or mental attributes differing from the accepted norm are paraded before the cameras. As the title suggested, this film was about those who are neither male nor female but trans-gender. By the end of this investigation, which mixed scientific evidence and stories of sexual confusion, it was apparent that the idea of male and female, straight and gay, bi or inter-gender isn't as clear cut as we'd liked to believe.

There are various turning points in the development of an embryo, and even a child, when a person's sex can go in different directions. Sometimes the brain doesn't follow the same route as physical changes.

Professor Milton Diamond's view is that variation is the norm. "Biology loves difference, loves variation. Society hates it," he said. In nature, the male/female division is blurred, what with fish that change sex and male seahorses that give birth. Humans, given the chance, would do much the same thing. In India, they worshipped a god with dual sexuality and society reflected that. The British changed the rules when they colonised the country. We met a married man who has a wife and a second secret partner, another married man. One's a Muslim, the other's a Hindu and they've been together for 11 years.

Remarkable too was the story of American Max Beck. Doctors couldn't determine whether he was a boy or a girl when he was born because of what were termed his "ambiguous genitalia". His condition was surgically corrected. Max grew up as Judy. She fell in love with Tamara and they lived in an open lesbian relationship. Judy discovered the truth from an old medical record calling him a male pseudohermaphrodite. It made no difference to his other half and they've been together for more than ten years. As Tamara put it: "This is the same person I fell in love with".

Noah, an eight-year-old living in the American Midwest - not an area noted for its tolerance of people who are "different"- is clearly a girl in a boy's body. Mother Michelle knows about the Bible's disapproval of boys behaving like girls, but said: "I can't believe in a God that doesn't love Noah for what he is".

In Thailand you'll find a "rainbow of sexuality diversity" that's mostly accepted by society. Professor Sam Winter thought the Thais could teach the rest of the world much about accepting trans-gender people.

I suspect most would have less sympathy for Mark, a British man in his forties who left his wife and children to live with a 19-year-old Thai boy who's now a woman (although still with his wedding tackle). Mark said his new partner was "sexy like a girl is sexy and horny like a boy is horny". This contrasted with one of Bangkok's famous ladyboys who felt that, "what matters if you love someone is the beauty on the inside".

A Winter's Tale, Theatre Royal, Newcastle

INNOCENT affection is mistaken for betrayal and adultery in this fascinating production by all-male Shakespeare company Propeller. Passionate stirrings of sexual jealousy and madness are suddenly awakened in the King of Sicilia, Leontes, during a visit from his old childhood friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia. Convinced of an affair between his wife Hermione and Polixenes, he orders the murder of his friend, the incarceration of his eight months pregnant wife, and the eventual cruel abandonment of their baby daughter. But Leontes has rejected the advice of the gods and a terrible punishment befalls him when his much loved son is killed. He tries to take it back, but it is too late?

This is a production of two very different halves, both visually and thematically. Sicilia is a sombre, threatening place, the fragile atmosphere broken by the harsh, forced laugh of the increasingly disturbed King. The blue-grey set is warmed only occasionally by flickering candlelight. Bohemia, on the other hand, is lush, verdant and colourful; its flamboyant characters fun loving, outrageous and full of energy. But on return to Sicilia, when reconciliation is in the air, the bleak mood reappears as the "tyrant king" is haunted by the poignant ghost of his dead son. The superb cast explores the text to the full, bringing new insight and imagination to the characters in this excellent, if disturbing, tragic romance.

* Runs until Saturday. Box Office: 0870 9055060.

Michelle Hedger

Hay Fever, York Theatre Royal

JUDITH Bliss is a retired actress who doesn't so much make a drama out of a crisis as out of every single event. Even weeding the garden is turned into a three-act tragedy. Add a self-centred writer husband, two obnoxious children and a scowling maid to the household and you have the recipe for the country house party from hell. You can only pity the four poor fools invited to stay. They're subjected to a weekend of humiliation and contempt in the company of a family whose life is anything but bliss. As the writer is Noel Coward, you can rest assured that this "comedy of bad manners" will unfold with much humour and fun. The play isn't so much about funny lines - although much Cowardian wit is apparent - but about the escalating farce as guests are unsettled by the Bliss's tantrums and traumas.

Damian Cruden's production, played out on Nigel Hook's impressively cluttered country house set, takes time to warm up. But once chaos descends, it heads at a helter-skelter speed to the finale as guests make a hasty exit from this house of horrors. Kate Brown's Judith Bliss is a wonderful creation, full of fake mannerisms and a vowel-mangling voice designed to reach the back of the stalls. No wonder David Leonard's rakish writer takes refuge in his room. Among the guests, Amy Humphreys' dim flapper and Mark Payton's out-of-his-depth suitor Richard Greatham provide nice comic turns.

* Until June 11. Tickets (01904) 623568.

Steve Pratt