Review: TELL ME STRAIGHT, Chiswick Playhouse
Photo credit: Danny Kaan
The Offie-commended tell me straight, which shortly concludes its brief run at the Chiswick Playhouse, is a self-described ‘explosive’ drama about ‘being a gay man in London’. The main character ‘Him’ (played by playwright Paul Bradshaw) is perennially drawn into furtive dalliances and awkward infatuations with straight men. His relationships are coloured by one-sided sexual experimentation, tentative bicuriosity and internalised homophobia.
The supporting cast of characters are picked up by George Greenland who switches between the straights Matt, Lee and Ryan with a flexible variety of accents and different coloured plaid shirts. Stephanie Levi-John completes the cast by lending her voice to the disembodied Dani, who is described in the show copy as the ‘long-suffering best friend’, which suggests she should have more presence and influence in the play than she really does.
In reality, Dani is relegated to the background of the piece. The advice of the stereotypical Gay Best Friend™ for Paul Bradshaw’s Him to ‘get him some rainbow flag waving D’ is so blatantly disregarded that Dani does not even appear on stage, Levi-John’s voice only heard through pre-recorded voice notes.
It’s an interesting subject and a unique angle of the queer experience that hasn’t frequently been seen portrayed on stage. The script is peppered with knowing fourth-wall breaks, many of which are genuinely hilarious and delightfully relatable to the ‘theatre gays’ who I presume will make up the majority of the audience of Bradshaw’s production.
The sound and lighting design by Roly Botha and Chloe Stally Gibson respectively do well to aid the distinction between dialogue scenes and soliloquy. Imogen Frances’ direction should also be commended particularly for the coordination of more intimate scenes.
But ultimately Bradshaw’s play isn’t quite as explosive as hoped and fails to dive particularly deep.
The main issue is the way that Him treats his friends poorly and sees no repercussions for his actions. By the end of the play when Him seems to have regained some control over his romantic relationships, Dani is again brushed aside, his wrongdoing to her only acknowledged by a disingenuous “oh, I’m so bad aren’t I?”
The show also focuses so fixedly on the straight/gay dichotomy as to teeter on the edge of biphobia, and a gay-bashing scene that looms throughout the piece disappointingly lends little to the character journey of Him. The incident is almost immediately brushed aside and it seems a gratuitous set piece of sensationalism, a superfluous footnote of gay trauma.
But the production shows promise and with a little room for development could grow into something truly explosive.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett
tell me straight plays at Chiswick Playhouse until 26 February, with tickets available here.