This haunting film screening in Somerville pays homage to Boston’s first queer bar
Georden West’s Playland is more than just a film; it’s an homage to Boston’s rich, complicated LGBTQ+ history. After debuting at the Rotterdam Film Festival, Playland is finally coming home with showings at the Somerville Theatre on November 18 and 19. These screenings bring West’s intricate, haunting portrait of queer Boston to the audiences it was created for. Playland is a poignant, experimental tribute to what was once Boston’s oldest gay bar.
West first stumbled upon the story of Playland Café while diving into the archives at Boston’s History Project. “I first learned about it in the Archive,” the director recalls. “It's a treasure trove, really.”
Playland Café, which opened in 1937 at 21 Essex St. in Chinatown, held legendary status as a lively refuge for Boston’s LGBTQ+ community until it shuttered for good in 1998, closing a chapter on one of the city’s earliest queer spaces. As West describes, they were captivated by the legacy of Sylvia Sidney, a notorious Boston drag queen whose exploits frequently ended at Playland. Sidney’s story, along with Playland Café’s cultural importance, drew West deeply into Boston’s queer past. “I think just the richness of her archive, coupled with something that has so much historical gravity—I was drawn to it,” West shares.
In Playland, West reimagines the lost bar through an ethereal, almost ghostly lens. The film is less a direct retelling of historical events and more of a "Victorian fever dream," in West's words. Set in a surreal version of the café, Playland evokes the haunting emptiness of a bar after the people are gone.
“The scariest thing is closing, because you realize the space is really meant for gathering,” West says. Without patrons, the bar feels hollow, almost ghostly, embodying the essence of a vanished world where queer people once gathered freely. “I think that gives the film such a nice haunted texture,” West reflects. “You feel like it’s very grounded, but there’s something haunting that you can’t quite see.”
To authentically depict Playland’s spirit, West avoided creating new historical artifacts. Instead, they wanted the imagery to reflect the preserved fragments of Boston’s LGBTQ+ history. By collaborating with an opera set designer and working with local archives, West’s team created a space that feels both familiar and eerily unfamiliar—a queer memory reimagined.
Casting was crucial to West’s vision, as Playland was shaped by a predominantly queer cast and crew. Legendary drag icon Lady Bunny appears in a transformative role that departs from her well-known character. “Watching her step into a role outside of the Lady Bunny persona is such a testament to her acting capacity,” West says. In Playland, Bunny’s character decays alongside the bar itself, embodying the café’s decline. “She becomes more or less, I think, in a lot of ways, the character that reflects the bar the most,” West notes. Bunny’s nuanced portrayal of this ghostly figure adds a poignant, almost tragic depth to the film’s narrative.
For West, Playland’s screening in Boston feels like a homecoming. The film’s connection to the city runs deep, not only through its historical subject matter but through West’s own experiences as a former Boston resident and graduate student at Emerson College. “I was in Boston for graduate school and ended up falling in love with the city,” they share. West’s deep attachment to Boston is evident in every frame, drawing from the local queer history that shaped the film’s narrative.
Though West won’t be attending the local screenings due to other projects, they’re excited for Boston audiences to experience Playland on the big screen. “I’m super excited to bring it to Massachusetts,” they say, adding that independent theaters like Somerville’s and Lexington Venue, where the film screened on Thursday, are vital to showcasing cutting-edge cinema.
Playland is far from a conventional film. It’s an experiment in memory and loss, a celebration of a Boston landmark and the community it represented. “There’s something lovely about being in a theater,” West reflects, “but there’s also something really wonderful about watching it alone.” With Playland’s upcoming screenings, Boston audiences have a rare chance to step into a haunting, nostalgic vision of the city’s queer past, and honor a place that, though gone, remains unforgettable.