Generation Games contains a double invoice of Michael McManus’ A Certain Term and Charlie Ross MacKenzie’s I F____n Love You on the White Bear Theatre
“It’s not dying young that’s an offence against nature for a gay man, you know. It’s growing old. We become invisible.”
It is at all times attention-grabbing to get to revisit productions that you’ve actually loved. First seen right here on the White Bear Theatre in Kennington again in August 2021 underneath the title Gay Generations, this double invoice of one-act comedy dramas has been reworked, recast and retitled as Generation Games. I ranked the present in my prime 10 of 2021 and so the possibility to see it once more was an intriguing one, particularly to see if it provoked the identical stage of emotional response.
Michael McManus’ A Certain Term is the one which made me bawl final time and if I’ve to admit that I didn’t cry as a lot this time, I must also level out that it’s truly richer on a second viewing for spoiler-ish causes I shall not disclose. After a drunken assembly in a homosexual bar, 40-something muscle Mary Graham invited 20-something twinkish Joe to a celebration however it has slipped his thoughts. So when Joe rocks up early, there’s an opportunity to re-establish a connection that takes them each abruptly.
For there’s extra than simply an age hole between them, there’s an entire expertise hole within the vastly alternative ways during which they’ve navigated being homosexual and McManus evokes this heart-rendingly effectively, wit and heat in the way in which they tease one another, deep compassion flooding by way of the realisations of hidden truths. Luke McBride’s brash Graham can’t fairly cover his inside ache and Simon Stallard’s questioning Joe is a beautiful foil. The method the hour unfolds is so elegantly finished, it truly is so very shifting.
Post-interval, issues turn out to be slightly extra light-hearted with Charlie Ross MacKenzie’s I F____n Love You, a portrayal of a relationship present process one of many greatest attainable challenges, an evening on the spare mattress. Simon and Adrian are on the brink of flip however it turns on the market’s extra protecting them up that only a lumpy mattress, as their bedtime storytelling begins to incorporate some fairly hefty material.
Both within the leisure enterprise however on opposing trajectories, former TV presenter Adrian’s prepping for an interview with Bucks Fizz on native radio while Simon is musing affords from Strictly, their relationship is definitely in a reasonably wholesome place. And in order they ricochet from flirtatious mates to applicable ranges of jealousy as to if children are on the desk, there’s a mature consideration of the age distinction between them however extra considerably, a reinforcement of their emotions for each other.
MacKenzie and Joe Ashman play this reference to a scrumptious chemisty, a twinkle in one another’s eye for each jab about weak bladders and liking Citizen Kane, Edward Applewhite’s path making certain the allure and comedy stays uppermost. Together, these performs provide an absorbing take a look at intergenerational homosexual relationships, each platonic and romantic, that’s refreshingly freed from judgement. Recommended.