MY NIGHT WITH REG: till 26 July
Newcastle Under Lyme
MY NIGHT WITH REG: Kevin Elyot
New Vic Theatre: BO 01782 717962
Runs: 1hr 30m: No interval runs until Saturday 26th July 2003
Review: Ranjit Khutan: 11th July 2003
Another New Vic triumph: I could have watched this play over and over again.
The New Vic stages another hilarious classic comedy that, like its performance of ONCE A CATHOLIC last month, contains adult dialogue and subject matter creating a comical, nostalgic and, deeply moving piece.
Guy is having a flat warming party and invites a few friends round for drinks. Eric, the young decorator, is still putting the finishing touches to the conservatory and is met with pleasing looks from Guy's university friends Daniel, John and the couple-on-the-rocks Bernie and Benny. Guy has been in love with John for many years and desperately wants to tell him. At one point he confides in Eric who has noticed, Guy tells him how difficult it is for him 'to ask for the only thing that he ever really wanted' a feeling we can all relate to. When he is about to tell John, John interrupts him and tells him he is having an affair with Daniel's partner Reg. We discover that everyone else has had a sexual encounter with Reg at some point apart from Guy. Farfetched? Elyot's skilful writing makes it all perfectly plausible.
It is a heart breaking romance. In directing the piece it is clear that Jim Hooper has reached deep inside to examine his feelings about past and, present love and about love that never was - allowing you to make that personal journey as well. Kevin Ashley's Guy is a true rock he gives but he never gets anything in return, flitting around his tidy flat moving the discussion away from himself and preferring to hear about his friends' lives and secrets. Kevin Ashley allows Guy's frustration to seeps out through his uncomfortable outbursts and his timid posture.
Giles Fagan's John is a far more subtle character able to hide his emotions, and is blind to what is happening around him telling us nothing but provoking questions all the time.
The play moves from extremes of joy and sorrow there's no in-between. We move from Jon Atkins's over-tanned-camp-trolley-dolly characterisation of Daniel increasing the pace with shrills of laughter and use of female name tags, to the sombre tones of Robin Hooper's Bernie, unloved and desperately trying to control his butch over sexed partner Benny. Peter Moreton's Benny is a man of few words, a cockney bad boy managing to seduce through his physical presence and actions.
The writing is beautiful and clever jokes and witty phrases pass between the characters with ease. The dialogue works on many levels, and at times you find yourself laughing at Elyot's adroitly placed joke but when you get the heart of it, the true sadness is revealed and you recoil with guilt - laughing at situations the gay community faced in the late 80's and early 90's.
This is writing at its best and despite its now clichéd subject matter gay men and HIV - it is still relevant and fresh today. The brilliance of this play lies in the way that HIV and death is never mentioned it is implied through the subtle subtext and emotion. I could have watched this play over and over again.
Guy: Kevin Ashley
Daniel: Jon Atkins
John: Giles Fagan
Bernie: Robin Hooper
Benny: Peter Moreton
Eric: Joesph Raishbrook
Director: Jim Hooper
Designer: Liz Evans
Lighting Designer: David Plater
Sound Designer: James Earl-Davis
Stage manager: Andy Billington
2003-07-15 21:46:53