“A teasin’ squeezin’ pleasin’ kinda time.”
— Shania Twain

As drama goes, you can’t get more low stakes than the driving event of Hugo Timbrell’s My Life as A Cowboy, now playing at the tiny Open Space Arts theater in Uptown, and extended to March.

Conor, a seventeen-year-old gay man in Croydon, a dreary suburb of London, is obsessed with country music and dancing. The walls of his small bedroom are covered in posters of Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, and Orville Peck. There are posters of iconic queer cinema, both mainstream (The Birdcage, Boys Don’t Cry) and art house (Le Sexe des Étoiles, Happy Together, among others). Without a word being said, we know that Conor is gay and remarkably comfortable in his sexuality. Queer angst will not be the focus of this story and scenic designer Devin Meseke deserves kudos for the precisely and intelligently constructed diorama that occupies half the space. The other half depicts the observing dock of a public pool where Conor (Octavio Montes De Oca) and his fellow lifeguard, a hunky straight guy, Michael (Ben Chalex), alternate between exasperation and indifference at the behavior of the swimmers.

The show opens with Conor dancing in his room when he is interrupted by his best friend Zainab (Momina Shazad), a Muslim teenager, who comes in with her eyes covered assuming that Conor is engaged in activities that occupy the time of most teenage boys his age. Conor has had a brilliant idea: At the annual Croydon Arts Day, he will perform as a dancer. Specifically, a country music dancer. The winner gets a meeting with Leona Lewis’s agent, and possibly a trip to the USA. Conor dreams of being a country music back-up dancer and he needs Zainab’s help with the choreography. As Zainab puts it, with exquisite deadpan, “That’s a bit niche, innit?”

Things get complicated soon enough once Michael lets go of his more cynical-than-thou attitude and wants in. He wants Conor to dance to an original country song, “Song for a Lifeguard”, composed in the style of Johnny Cash. There’s nothing particularly new here in terms of plot. What makes this so charming is the terrific chemistry between all three actors and the sweetness of their characters. The slightest bit of cynicism or ironic detachment would derail this entire enterprise but director David G. Zak knows what he’s doing and he makes most of the considerable charisma of the actors. The three are all wonderful and I cannot pick between them though I will admit to being especially fond of Chelex’s repeated delivery of “…a bit weird” and Shazad’s declaration of everything she doesn’t want to have to do with as “haram”. This is that rare crowd pleaser that’s sweet but not saccharine and charming but not cloying. And it’s funny as hell. Off stage characters include a psychotically needy and violent cat—she wants you to pet her but will kill you if you do—and a parent without eyebrows.

Ultimately what makes this work is that Timbrell goes beyond queer (or even outcast) tropes here—Michael is about as much of the heteronormative ideal as one could be—to explore something that’s broader in its scope: these kids just want to do something that makes them feel accomplished. At one point, one of the characters talks about doing something they love and how it feels when they realize that they’re good at it. That’s all these characters want: whether it’s dancing to Shania Twain in tasseled cowboy boots at a lame local talent show, or writing a song about the travails of being a lifeguard, or simply helping your best friend realize their dream. The stakes may be low, but that doesn’t make them any less important.

As Zainab might say, it’s the least haram-est thing ever!

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

photos by Tadhg Mitchel

My Life As a Cowboy
Open Space Arts, 1411 W. Wilson in Chicago
Fri & Sat at 7:30; Sun at 2
ends on February 8, 2026 EXTENDED to March 1, 2026
Danny Tramontana takes over for Octavio Montes De Oca, Feb 20 – March 1
for tickets ($25-$30), visit Open Space Arts

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦