F***CKING GAMES by Grae Cleugh. Royal Court Upstairs to 8 December.

London

F***ING GAMES
by Grae Cleugh

Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs To 8 December 2001
Runs 1hr 25min No interval

TICKETS 020 7565 5000
Review Timothy Ramsden 14 November

Despite dramatic rough edges, there's a sense here of a new playwright who can build a strong dramatic form.With some 18 new plays a year on its two stages, from Britain and abroad, it's unsurprising the Royal Court isn't always coming up with masterpieces. The small upstairs space especially is meant to give new writers a chance to flex their muscles and test their impact on audiences.

So there's nothing wrong with neophyte Scottish playwright Grae Cleugh, an acting student in Glasgow, coming up with a play that whispers promises more than it delivers gifts. Its four gay characters proceed from bitching through seduction to verbal and sexual brutality as they smoke, snort and booze their way through an evening in prosperous, going- on-50 club owner Terrence's home. He's lived ten years with his employee Jonah, who's aptly enough about to get thrown out in favour of Terrence's young hunk on the side, Jude. Youngest of all is 20 year old Daniel, who everyone seems to like.

Daniel's at once the most interesting and least focused character. His denunciation of the gay life which Terrence celebrates and which exhilarates Jonah sounds like earnest message-theatre. Yet his history, including two teenage years with a girlfriend, and his ability to assess a social situation and respond ironically or defiantly to it, gives the character possibilities Cleugh does not explore.

Yet here's a playwright who steers his characters smoothly into conversational couples to expand his themes and elaborate his plot. And just as Terrence, by far the oldest, wealthiest, most assured and Machiavellian of the unharmonious quartet, has gained the whip-hand over the others, the playwright skilfully turns the tables with a sting in the tail.

His central theme is love, picked out for its scarcity value among the abundance of sexual encounters. Though there's often the sense of a skilled director and actors covering the shortcomings of their characters' dialogue, still, amid the easy sitcom laughs and towering Hollywood banalities ('This isn't a game any more, Jude. This is about the rest of my life'), there are moments that show a writer who can strike dramatic fire from his material.

Terrence: Allan Corduner
Jonah: Ian Dunn
Jude: Daniel Lapaine
Danny: Benjamin Davies

Director: Dominic Cooke
Designer: Christopher Oram
Lighting: Johanna Town
Sound: Ian Dickinson

2001-11-15 00:31:46