Beautiful Thing

The twenty-odd years since Beautiful Thing premiered have, thankfully, seen progression for gay rights. But they’ve also seen an unprecedented boom in social media outlets and today there are more ways than ever to spread abuse. So, at a time when homophobic bullying and hate crimes are still rife, and so much progression still needed, Nickolai Foster’s scintillating revival of Jonathan Harvey’s play is vital.

It’s essentially a story about two teenage boys, Ste and Jamie — neighbours on a working class Thamesmead estate—who fall in love and explore what it means to them and the world they live in. Harvey’s play cleverly sets Ste and Jamie’s story amidst other endearing outcasts — Ste’s mum, Sandra, her boyfriend, Tony, and their neighbour, Leah. We see a bunch of fighters fighting a bunch of causes, so the emphasis never feels as though it’s on being gay but being accepted, being equal.  

The modesty of Colin Richmond’s charming design — a concrete backdrop adorned with a shopping trolley, strewn football socks, and interspersed with outside lights which aid a romantic mood — pays homage to the simplicity of Harvey’s play. Ste hangs out the washing and Sandra waters her hanging basket. Nobody is harmed by two young people falling in love, even in a visceral scene where Sandra and Ste physically take their sense of injustice in the world out on one another. It’s rare to find a production that makes you feel as heavily as this one does. That makes you watch with your heart. When the audience aren’t crying, they’re laughing at this bold and hilarious production with a soulful and uplifting soundtrack to boot. Its warmth is a stark contrast to the irrational, unseen and ominous threat of school bullies and Ste’s abusive father. 

None of this would be possible without a cast so finely attuned to the sharp-paced dialogue and to each other, helped by the three door frames allowing the characters to effortlessly walk in and out of rooms, houses, lives. Charlie Brooks is extremely special as the ferocious but devoted Sandra; Vanessa Babirye is a delightfully exuberant and feisty Leah; Gerard McCarthy gives a charismatic and optimistic Tony; while Sam Jackson and Thomas Law both give effortless performances as Jamie and Ste. You don’t see these actors as characters, but people.

In the lump-in-your-throat moment that Sandra finds out about Jamie, she’s not concerned that he’s gay, just about the dangerous and hate-filled world he’ll have to face. Until acceptance overrides the society she fears, this beautiful production needs to keep on touring the UK. The world even.