“My Life As A Cowboy” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

*** “My Life as a Cowboy” by Hugo Timbrell is a cute comedy with great country-Western music to boot… such as Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, and Johnny Cash. Smooth directing by artistic director David Zak makes this light and funny 70-minute play fun to watch!

Conor (Octavio Montes De Oca) is a gay 17-year-old man who comes from Croydon, a suburb of London, and who feels stuck as a lifeguard at a neighborhood swimming pool. His dream is to become a flashy cowboy, entertain audiences, and be discovered by Hollywood. To achieve this goal, Conor has decided to enter a competition to perform at Croydon’s People’s Day Talent Contest. The winner is supposed to be recognized by an American talent scout, who will hopefully put him on the path of making his wishes come true. But his good friend Zainab, a straight-talking, straight Muslim woman (Momina Shahzad), realizes that Conor’s ambition is quite unrealistic, because he doesn’t dance well enough. She’s a good dancer and wants to teach him; and after some discussion, Conor, knowing his limitations, takes her up on her offer. But when he wants her to join him on stage to perform (and submits her name without her consent), she backs away, since a woman dancing in public is not considered proper in Muslim culture, where she is expected to be retiring and demure.

At the same time, Conor works with a fellow lifeguard named Michael (Ben Chalex), a straight man with his own secret yearning to be an entertainer. He sings and plays guitar and wants his song about working his miserable job to become famous. He convinces Conor that dancing to his original song might be a better choice (and might help him win the contest) rather than dancing to Zainab’s choice of Shania Twain. And for all sorts of numerous and sundry reasons (that need not be explained here), Michael and Zainab don’t really get along, not only because they are very different people but because their personalities clash. Unfortunately, Conor finds himself caught between them. He likes them both as platonic friends, and the two of them like him and want him to succeed in pursuing his passion.

While Conor is gay, that’s not the focus of the story but, rather, his aspirations for greatness and recognition. We see him not so much as an overtly gay character inasmuch as someone who wants to be glamorous and wants to take the stage to “strut his stuff.” Yes, there are lots of allusions to gayness and straightness and a number of implications having to do with sex and sexual orientation. For example, at one point, Michael and Conor have a discussion about who is “their type.” Then too, Zainab is somewhat attracted to Conor even though she knows he’s gay—which relates to the idea of a special friendship between a gay man and a straight woman, solely based on personality and not on desire. What makes the story compelling, then, is that these sexual aspects, while consequential, are not in your face, for this would have only taken away from the point of the play, that is, promoting Conor’s ambition to become a cowboy. Or maybe he already is!

Set design (Devin Meseke) is simple, where the stage is basically divided in two halves. On the left is Conor’s room in his mother’s house, complete with a wardrobe, desk, and posters, and on the right is the deck of the (imagined) swimming pool where he works, complete with life ring. Sound design and effects (Zach Stinett), such as the shouting of people inside the swimming pool, are done well, as is the country music that tops the show. Lighting design (Ethan Brentlinger) is good and appropriate in shifting the scenes from one to the next. I liked the fact that there was enough black light, so as to allow Conor to change clothes on stage between scenes. Costume design (Jade Andrews) is very appropriate for the story, especially the shimmering cowboy boots with fringe. Dialect coach Jason Fleece has done a nice job imparting English accents to the cast, and Kevin Chlapecka’s choreography is sweet!

In all, the trio of Conor, Zainab, and Michael is meaningfully depicted in this heartfelt tale. We witness the vicissitudes of their combined relationship, where each person not just brings their skills to the table (like Zainab’s ability to dance and Michael’s original song) but also differing ideas about what success means. We witness their various quarrels and rough patches as well as diverse expectations of what it means to be a buddy. In fact, what is most noteworthy about this play is that it shows what can happen when you build a team where your associates should theoretically get along with each other because you’re the anchor. But as Conor’s learns, some personalities don’t mix well together, and sometimes the team-building dream works and sometimes it doesn’t. And yet, Zainab and Michael both want to help Conor win the talent contest. The issue becomes the extent to which they are willing to sacrifice and give of themselves to allow him to accomplish his goals. Hence, Michael and Zainab figure out how to subsume their own individual wants and desires so that they might be supportive of their good friend and share in his joys and triumphs.

“My Life as a Cowboy” has been extended to March 1, 2026. Performances are at Open Space Arts, 1411 W. Wilson Avenue, in Chicago.

General admission tickets: $30
Students and seniors: $25

Performance schedule is as follows:

Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit: https://openspacearts.org/.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “My Life As A Cowboy”