A two-hander exploring the oppressive difficulties faced by homosexuals in the 1960s from society and the law. The play is set in both Manchester and Bolton. Bobby works on the record counter in Woolies and Ralph is an aspiring teacher whose paths collide, in the 1960s: when the girls were swooning for Tom Jones and the boys for Dusty Springfield. These boys were more in the Tom Jones camp. This is an award-winning production for its cast, writer, director and producer . Originally performed at Bolton Octagon in 2018, it is now on tour around the country and is at Hope Mill for the rest of the week.
The capacity, first night audience were treated to a continuous performance (just over an hour) of the two characters' narrative from their meeting to the end of their story. The play is a set of monologues and scenes driven by Bobby recounting their romance and relationship and the challenges facing ‘queers’ in the 1960s where it was illegal, an imprisonable offence and sometimes medical intervention - electrical therapy treatment- used to correct ‘illicit thoughts and impulses.’ Crazy hey?
The stage was cleverly lit, just a bare floor, cleverly used to show time and place changes with nothing more than actor movement in and around the space. This worked beautifully, along with the atmospheric music of the time.
Bobby was the more ‘out’ character than Ralph (who was concerned with preserving his career and the need to be secretive about his sexual preferences.) Bobby’s mother and brother both knew about Bobby but wouldn’t tell father because ‘he’ll hit the roof.’ Ralph’s father catches the twosome in the act, in the opening scenes, and never speaks of the matter again until later in the play when he tells the police about his son and pronounces him perfectly, shunning and disowning him.
The two leads are played by Ciaràn Griffiths (TV’s The Bill, Shameless and The Bay) as Bobby; the Woolies record dept worker with aspirations of being an assistant manager which get thwarted by the rumours of his queerness and the job goes to a married man from Preston. Griffiths' energy was impressive. A commanding performance. His love and uncontrollable emotion towards the, at the time, illegal love of Ralph was tangible. He was ably matched by the more detached, more experienced and self-controlled characterisation of Ralph played by Christian Edwards. (Cyrano and Les Miserables). His character was not as strong as the rougher Bobby as he crumbles in the later stages when arrested for gross indecency and faces prison. There was genuine connection, tenderness and attraction between the two making their seemingly impossible situation sadder.
This piece, written by the talents of Kathrine Smith is a well-crafted, entertaining, just-enough-gay-referenced to make you smile, (whatever your preferences), homage to a period of recent history; which given the recent political status of LGBT feels a hundred years ago and yet it is in our lifetime. Homophobia, gossip, hysteria and the shame and guilt for the individuals and their families must have been a daily and lifelong burden. It skirted around sham marriages to save face and keeping up appearances of ‘ normal’ when lots of people ‘always knew he was “one of them”!’
The play has been expertly and thoughtfully directed by Ben Occhipinti and Mark Powell .
A powerful piece of theatre which left me thinking about it all the way home from the delightful Hope Mill Theatre.
Reviewer - Kathryn Gorton
on - 27/5/19
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