Tezza's Theatre Place

Sex Crime – Photo by Matt Spike According to Oscar Wilde, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in many ways that’s true. Even an unflattering parody means that you have arrived and been noticed. I say this because this form of flattery is taken to an extreme length in Alexis Gregory’s play  Sex/Crime  at the Soho Theatre. Two men stand in a dark room with plastic covered walls. There is not much to see. A large red sofa and a metal stand, both also covered in plastic, are the room’s only furnishings. The two men – no names, so let’s call then A (Jonny Woo) and B (Alexis Gregory) – are, in fact customer and client. The service offered is to recreate the killings of a gay serial killer. On offer are various gruesome scenarios. All of which emulate the work carried out by ‘Him’ as they refer to the real killer. Both men have their own role in the ‘game’ but, as things progress, the lines between client, customer, killer and client become blurred leading to a final...

Liv Alexander, Georgia Bradshaw and Beccy Lane, courtesy of Tom Grace For a man fast approaching his late fifties, you wouldn’t think a tale of teenage angst set in an American Roman Catholic boarding school would be that interesting. But you would be wrong, as one of my favourite shows ever is  Bare: A Pop Opera . So, I’m sure you can imagine my excitement when asked to review the latest version of this show as it opens at The Vaults Theatre. At St Cecilia’s Boarding School, the pupils are celebrating a mass on the Feast of the Epiphany. It’s a pretty normal service, worthy but dull, and as the priest (Mark Jardine) preaches, most of the teenage congregation find their attention drifting. As with all children on the brink of adulthood, there is much to occupy their minds. This is particularly true of altar boy Peter (Daniel Mack Shand) who is hiding two terrible secrets. Not only is he gay, but he is in love, and enjoying carnal relations with his roommate, and St Cecilia’s r...

AFTERGLOW – Jesse Fox, Danny Mahoney, Sean Hart photo Darren Bell. Being honest, an open relationship wouldn’t work for me. However, I have friends who have the ability to keep sex and their relationship separate and really enjoy both. Whilst I agree that is fine in theory, for me, that separation would not be that easy and emotions always become involved somehow. In many respects, this is the issue that is at the heart of S. Asher Gelman’s play  Afterglow  at the Southwark Playhouse. Josh (Sean Hart) and his husband Alex (Danny Mahoney) are enjoying life. They live in a nice apartment in New York, have jobs they both, on the whole, enjoy and are having a baby together. Sexually, they have an open relationship with only one rule – no overnighters – and are happy to play together or separately. When we first meet them, they are having a passionate threesome with twenty-something masseur Darius (Jessie Fox), an event that all three of them really enjoy. In fact, Josh enjo...

What is ‘power’? According to an online dictionary, power is the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events. However, even with this definition, whilst many people believe they have power, very few actually do. There is a moment in Game of Thrones when Queen Cersei, explains the concept to Lord Baelish in three words, “Power is power”. Knowing who actually wields power is one of the conundrums that remains at the end of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play  Salomé  which is Lazarus Theatre Company’s final production in their season at Greenwich Theatre. Things are not going well in the Roman province of Judea. Herod Antipas (Jamie O’Neill), the Tetrarch does not have a secure hold on the reigns of power in his country, Herod has many distractions in his life. There are rivals for his throne – which he basically holds at the will of Caesar – and there is unrest in his province. Chief among those causing unrest is a Judean prophet by the ...

(c) Nick Rutter. From left to right_ Freddie Hogan, Lewis Brown What does the word ‘undetectable’ mean to you? If you were a fan of detective stories, it’s a crime that cannot be solved. If you are a reader of some of our more right-wing papers, then we are talking about illegal aliens living in the country under the radar. If you are a gay man, then it is something far more serious that will affect your life forever.  Undetectable is also the title of Tom Wright’s new one-act play which is receiving its world premiere at the King’s Head Theatre. As far as gay relationships go, Bradley (Lewis Brown) and Lex (Freddie Hogan) are very unusual. Despite dating for three months, this twenty-something couple have not actually slept together yet. And their relationship is going from strength to strength. For instance, this very night, Lex has introduced Bradley to his, rather judgy, housemates, something he has been loathe to do with other men that he has gone out with. So, tonight is...

Left to Right: Eleri Jones, Isaura Barbé-Brown The concept of robots has been around for thousands of years. Basically, since humans first learned how to work, they started thinking about ways of getting out of it by having some device do the work for them. Since then, technology has moved on and these days, either directly or indirectly, robots are a part of our lives. Already, there is a hotel in Japan staffed with robots and how long will it be before we get our automated friends to do everything that we would rather not? A question that is examined in Nessah Muthy’s one-act play  Sex With Robots and Other Devices , part of the Sex Season at the King’s Head Theatre. The show – performed by Isaura Barbé-Brown, Deshaye Gale and Eleri Jones – sees a future where ordering a totally realistic sex robot is as easy as getting a takeaway delivered. Each scene shows the interaction of human or humans with their own personal robot, and we get an idea as to why they have decided to go ...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/178769/review-of-coming-clean-at-the-kings-head-theatre/ Jason Nwoga, Elliot Hadley & Lee Knight in COMING CLEAN. Credit Paul Nicholas Dyke Relationships used to be so easy. Two people met, fell in love, moved in together and remained faithful to each other through the rest of their lives. Of course, this is utter balderdash and in reality, relationships can be quite complicated with monogamous, open, polyamorous to name but three. The important thing in maintaining a relationship is, so we are told, to be honest and communicate with each other. But, is it really? The subject is explored in Kevin Elyot’s play  Coming Clean , a 35th-year-anniversary revival, as the headline of the Queer Season at the King’s Head Theatre. It’s 1982 and in a flat in Kentish Town two friends are comparing their previous night. William (Elliot Hadley) is recounting his exploits after he left best friend Tony (Lee Knight) to go off with some ‘trade’ he had pic...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/173480/review-punts-theatre503/ Punts, Theatre503 – Christopher Adams and Florence Roberts (courtesy of Claudia Marinaro) Parents always want what is best for their offspring. That’s a pretty fundamental fact of life really. For most parents, it’s fairly simple. Keep the sprog safe and warm, send them to school and provide a safe haven for them as they learn life’s various lessons before they are ready to stretch their wings and fly the nest. However, things are different as Jack has a learning disability. In these cases, Parents not only need to do everything above but will also try and provide as normal a life as possible for their youngster, even if this means doing things they themselves are not entirely happy with. This idea forms the backdrop to Sarah Page’s one-act play  Punts  at Theatre503. In a very nice West London house, a young lad is getting ready for an important night. Jack (Christopher Adams), a young man with le...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/172465/5-guys-chillin-kings-head-theatre-review-2/ 5 Guys Chillin’ (c) Laura Marie Linck Chemsex is apparently prevalent in the gay community, and every week, there are lots of gay men attending chillin’ sessions where drugs and sex are the order of the day and hang the consequences. Unfortunately, the consequences can be quite dramatic and there has been a large rise in STDs and a lot of broken dreams as the pursuit of hedonism at any price takes its toll. There have been various books and plays written about chemsex parties and one of the most powerful is Peter Darney’s award-winning verbatim play 5 Guys Chillin’ which is back at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington. There isn’t really a story to speak of in reality as there is no clear narrative, just five men (David Palmstrom, Gareth Watkins, George Bull, George Fletcher and Tom Ratcliffe) meeting in an apartment with the intention of taking drugs and having sex with each other. Over the co...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/172060/guide-me-o-thou-great-redeemer-camden-peoples-theatre/ One of the most frustrating things about being a reviewer is when you see something and have to write about it but can say virtually nothing as the show itself is one of those site-specific shows where to say too much would really give everything away. A case in point is  Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer  which is getting its premiere at the Camden People’s Theatre. So let’s see how far I can go with telling you something of my experience. When I arrived, I was sent down into the basement to a door with a notice on the outside “Queen Mother Remembrance Society, please knock and wait”. A few seconds after knocking, the door was opened by our host David (David G. Lees) who welcomed each of us in turn with a personal remark. David himself is a tall Glaswegian who is currently living in London but is moving – albeit reluctantly – back to his hometown soon. And that’s the reason for...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169539/the-chemsex-monologues-the-kings-head-theatre-review/ The Chemsex Monologues at the King’s Head Theatre. Photo by Mark Douet Some of you may have heard of an app called Grindr. It is a social app for gay men that enables them to chat and arrange to meet up. Okay, it may be a bit more than that but once again I must remember my mother reads these things. Anyway, if I was to download it and switch it on now, two things would become apparent very quickly. The first is that a lot of people take really bad photographs which seem to cut off their heads and the second is that the world is divided into those that say ‘chems OK’ and those that say ‘No Chems’. Being firmly on the ‘No Chems’ side, it is interesting to delve, if only briefly, on the other. Such an opportunity is available as Patrick Cash’s play  The Chemsex Monologues  makes a welcome return to the King’s Head Theatre in Islington. As the title suggests,  The Chemsex M...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/164161/review-promises-promises-southwark-playhouse/ Neil Simon writes the book, Hal David writes the lyrics and Burt Bacharach writes the music. Put all this together and what do you get? A Tony award-winning musical that goes by the name of  Promises, Promises  that has returned to London and taken up residence at the Southwark Playhouse after an absence of nearly 50 years. Chuck Baxter (Gabriel Vick) is a junior accountant in a large insurance company. Although a lowly, often overlooked individual, Chuck has aspirations to climb the ladder to executive level. Unfortunately, his life isn’t living up to his dreams until one day, one of the executives (exec) finds out that Chuck rents a studio bachelor pad on West 67th Street, and asks to borrow it, so he can take his lady friend there for a spot of ‘afternoon delight’. Chuck, in his eagerness to ingratiate himself with the higher ups, agrees and soon news of the local bolt-hole spre...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/164080/sex-with-a-stranger-pleasance-theatre-review/ I remember being in my twenties. A lot of my weekends were spent out in town with my friends with two rather basic plans in mind. Either get very drunk or pick up someone. Was this something I wanted to do? Well, yes and no. Part of me enjoyed the fun and the thrill of the chase but at the same time, I was aware that as a twenty-something I was expected to behave in a certain way. Now, I’m not just pontificating here but providing an introduction to Stefan Golaszewski’s play  Sex With A Stranger  which is currently having a run out at the Pleasance Theatre. Told in a series of non-linear scenes,  Sex With A Stranger  tells the story of Adam (Tomm Melody), his girlfriend Ruth (Emily Thornton) and Grace (Rebecca Rayne) a young lass picked up by Adam in a club during a ‘lads’ night out. We follow Adam and Grace as they wend their drunken way back to Grace’s place – via a nig...