It’s nearly eight years since Australian playwright Tommy Murphy’s UK debut with Holding the Man, also at the Trafalgar Studios, in the bigger space (https://garethjames.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/holding-the-man). This one is a welcome transfer from the ever enterprising Kings Head Theatre.
The play tells the story of runaway teenager Shane, from small-town life and bullying brother Ben to Sydney. He’s nervous, naive and vulnerable but manages to get a job and somewhere to live and begins to explore his sexuality. He’s befriended by two older men, one of whom gives him an STD and the other food and fatherly love. When Ben comes to find him, we learn that he is as much victim as bully, feeling responsible for how Shane has turned out.
The piece has more depth than you might expect in 90 minutes playing time. The first part is very funny but it becomes darker and ends charmingly. The writing is great, but so are the three terrific performances. Genuine Aussies Stephen Connery-Brown and Dan Hunter play the older men Peter and Will, with the latter doubling up as brother Ben, but it’s the hugely impressive live wire performance by Roly Botha, who made his professional debut with the Kings Head run of the play in 2016, that blew me away. Adam Spreadbury-Maher directs with great sensitivity to the material.
One to catch in this short run.
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