Clayton Lee

(Birmingham, UK / Toronto, CA)

The Goldberg Variations

Co-presented with Boom Arts

West Coast Premiere

Access: 18+, sexually explicit, depicts violence, haze, scents, flashing lights, audience interaction. CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) captioning will be provided for the Sept. 11th performance.

DESCRIPTION

What are the blueprints of sexual desire and fantasy? In this unapologetic investigation of power dynamics and identity, Clayton Lee invites audiences to confront that question through an intimate, unfiltered reckoning with his sexual and romantic history. With deadpan humor and mischievous wit, Lee explores his childhood obsession with the professional wrestler Bill Goldberg and its lasting impact on him.

Entangling queer diasporic sexuality and Bach’s classical compositions, this ever-evolving piece sets an unexpectedly tender stage where desires are both indulged and deconstructed, and the perplexing crossroads between dominance, submission, heartbreak, and vulnerability are laid bare. At times unhinged and always deeply personal, Lee takes audiences through the fixations and speculations of sexual fantasy in a candid and thoroughly unconventional performance—including a surprise twist we can’t yet disclose, but you won’t want to miss.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Clayton Lee is a Canadian curator, producer, and performance artist. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of Fierce Festival in Birmingham, UK. From 2019–2023, Clayton was the Director of Rhubarb Festival!, Canada’s longest-running festival of new and experimental performance, and previously served as the Curatorial Associate at the Luminato Festival. His performance projects have been presented in venues across Canada, the US, the UK, and New Zealand. He was one of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Artists-in-Residence in 2023. As part of the Living Room Collective, he represented Canada at the 2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture.