The Maids is one of the few scripts in this year’s Glasgay! that has not been commissioned by the festival: October sees new work from local heroes Drew Taylor, Louise Welsh, Rachel Amey and Wendy Miller. It is, however, typical of the Glasgay! approach. Written by Jean Genet, an icon of queer literature, directed by Derek McLuckie, it takes the story of a Parisian scandal of the 1930s as a starting point for a study of power, submission and murder. McLuckie, who wrote and directed a version of Tennessee William’s life, Elysian Fields, twists Genet’s original further by dragging up the cast.

The history of Glasgay! reveals a stunning growth – in 2004, only 3000 people attended, while over 35000 were registered in 2009  - but also demonstrates the social shifts of the past decades. While Glasgay! has never veered away from the controversial – last year, a transsexual vision of Jesus led to a vigorous debate about censorship and religious sensibilities – it still crosses over into the mainstream: the Theatre Royal, perhaps the most established of Glasgow’s theatres, regularly offers a couple of performances as part of the programme. And, like the IETM, Glasgay! has alliances with most of the city’s theatres.

McLuckie is a fine representative of Glasgay!: despite a strong kitsch aesthetic, he incorporates an idiosyncratic spirituality into his melodramas. Glasgay! itself has a peculiar Glaswegian sensibility, both mainstream and alternative, inclusive and provocative. It is perchance more than a  coincidence that Thomson himself is a former coo league of another Glasgow legend, Nikki Millican – as is Steve Slater of the IETM. The enthusiasm they both show for radical experimental performance, while firmly believing in its ultimate accessibility, mirrors a broader West Coast trend, expressed as clearly in venues like The Tron and The Arches. This is a considerable factor in the ease of collaboration between venues, companies and festival programming.