Review | ‘The Boys in the Band’ at London’s Park Theatre
Coming nearly half a century after it premiered off-Broadway, this revival of Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking play is a brilliantly-staged, perfectly-acted echo of a bygone, bitchier era. If it frustrates somewhat in the second act that’s because of how it was written (which we’ll get to shortly) but there’s no faulting the production or the stellar cast. With so many witty, catty and outrageous lines flying around it’s an actors dream and they rise to the occasion splendidly.
It’s all about a house party being thrown in late-60s New York by Michael (Ian Hallard) for Harold (Mark Gatiss). The former is an alcoholic on a mission to entrap allegedly straight former college friend Alan (John Hopkins) into fessing up to being gay, the latter a caustic quipper who hates his bad skin and fading prowess with younger men, and around them flit a diverse bunch of friends plus a hustler named simply Cowboy (Jack Derges) who has been paid-for as a present for Harold.
Act one sees the group assembling in Michael’s apartment, which is plastered with pictures of Judy Gallard and posters from All About Eve. There’s Donald (Daniel Boys), who isn’t altogether comfortable with gay city life, and Emory (James Holmes), who is very happy indeed in his effeminacy. Then there’s Bernard (Greg Lockett), who is the butt of Emory’s good-natured but un-PC African-American jibes, and straight-acting Hank (Nathan Nolan) and his boyfriend Larry (Ben Mansfield), who loves Hank but can’t be monogamous.
And the first act is a riot as the guys bitch and drink and dance while they wait for Harold to turn up. The casting is flawless, with a shirtless Derges (best known as sexy Andy on EastEnders) playing vacant beauty beautifully, Holmes camping it up a treat and Hallard (who is, of course, Gatiss’s real-life husband) hinting at darker things to come.
After Harold breezes in, we break for intermission and return to the exact time of his entrance, things get very dark indeed. This is where I struggle a bit with The Boys In The Band because, without giving spoilers, Michael bullies the group into playing a nasty game but it seems simply to up the dramatic ante rather than something that would happen for real. What starts as funny and celebratory about gay lives, albeit ones lived within the confines of a pre-Stonewall society, turns nasty and there’s lots of self-loathing before the curtain falls.
Still, Crowley was writing about himself and people he knew and, invented game aside, the play feels like a vivid time capsule of a less-accepting time where self-loathing was just one of many issues faced by gay men. It’d be naïve to think it isn’t still an issue or that homophobia is no longer a hurdle, but thank god great strides continue to be made and maybe one day the themes of The Boys In The Band will seem unfathomable.
RATING: 4/5
The Boys In The Band is at the Park Theatre, London, until October 30. It then plays at The Lowry, Salford, from November 3 -6, the Theatre Royal Brighton from November 8-12 and the West Yorkshire Playhouse from November 14 -19.
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Words: Simon Button