For G (March 26, 2026)
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Updated: Sep 1
I was sometime around 2014. I had gone into Johnny G’s, our local one-step-up-from-a-diner, when I spotted Gilles at a small table. I knew him from the neighbourhood, where he’d been a familiar face for years, and from having mutual acquaintances in the dance world, because he’d been creating scores for contemporary choreographers. In fact, I think it was David Earle who first introduced us.
I hovered over his table and asked him if he was into some company. He told me later that he hadn’t been, of course. He was immersed in reading and writing. But I suppose he was curious, and I was smiley and insistent – which is my method when I spy someone I feel I need to connect with.
The thing is, I’d recently seen his visual art exhibition at the Pear Tree, another neighbourhood restaurant where he was a locally famous waiter for over twenty years. And although I’m not often immediately drawn to visual art (more so performance), his work jumped off the wall for me. The combination of abstraction and figuration, whimsy and darkness, the unpredictable colour choices, and the range of stylistic exploration made me think, “This is the real deal”. I saw the work of a true artist. (There are not many – although, as he believed, everyone is creative.)
I pushed my company onto him that day at Johnny G’s. But we ended up eating breakfast/lunch together there for years afterwards. Friends would sometimes join us if they were passing by, and we covered every topic from every angle, from art to politics to soul to sex.
He was instrumental in the formation of House of ShAkE, a company and a name I'd been pondering for years. His encouragement gave me to confidence to launch it, and he naturally became a "Resident Creator". The fit was perfect. And when he needed a place to stay post-lockdown and the closure of the Pear Tree and the death of its beloved owner, he moved into my living room.
More amazing conversations followed, and many delicious meals (he discovered he was a really good cook). Hours of Coronation Street and RuPaul. And sharing our overlapping, but also divergent interests: me, theatre, psychology, philosophy, politics, and grassroots music; him, painting, film, poetry and classical music. He was genuinely surprised when I said the 1950s B-movie (D-movie really) Robot Monster that he played for me was now one of my all-time favourites. (I don't joke about such things.) We were so different, in such basic ways. But we understood one another very well, and learned so much from our interactions.
In his last days, he once said, "I know you'll miss me". I just want to say you were right, Gilles – I do miss you. We all miss you. You knew we would.
We’ll keep building your pyramid of words and ideas, though, with all the material you left us. Your work will live on, and your dedication to it will continually challenge and inspire us. And we’ll appreciate life all the more with your example forever in our minds.
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