• Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
  • Search Site

Polari Magazine

  • Home
  • Up Front
    • Editorial
    • Clementine: The Living Fashion Doll
    • Polari Safari
    • WTF? Friday
    • Bulletin Board
    • Polari Facts
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Features
    • Gallery
    • Opinion
    • Heroes & Villains
  • Community
    • Oral Histories
    • Coming Out Stories
    • Relationships
    • IDAHO
    • LGBT History Month
    • Blogs
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Film and Television
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Visual Arts
    • Classics: Books
    • Classics: Film and Television
    • Classics: Music
  • About
    • About Polari Magazine
    • Contributors
    • Contact

You are here: Polari Magazine / Stage / Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing

18 Apr 2013 / Comments Off / in Stage/by Nick Smith

Beautiful Thing ★★★★★
Dir: Nikolai Foster
120 min • Arts Theatre • From April 13, 2013
………………………………………………………………………………………….

Beautiful Thing, London Arts Theatre

Marking the 20th anniversary of the tender and ground-breaking play’s Bush Theatre inaugural run, a new production of Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing is at the Arts Theatre in London from April 13th until May 25th, from when it will embark on a UK tour in Liverpool, Leeds and Brighton.

Bursting onto the stage with the powerhouse ‘It’s Getting Better’ by Mama Cass, we are transported to the early ’90s and Thamesmead in South East London, the small set lending to the confined living conditions on the estate.

We learn of the story of troubled and sensitive teenager Jamie who holds a torch for his neighbour Ste, who wrestles with the domineering demons of his abusive brother and father. Add to the mix the disaffected Leah, a neighbour with a bizarre Mama Cass fixation and Sandra, Jamie’s tempestuous and brash mother, and her well-meaning, yet squibbish boyfriend Tony and we are drawn into this gritty, tender, funny and heart-breaking coming of age story between two young men.

Jamie’s inner torment is effortlessly palpable in a brilliant turn from Jake Davis. Danny-Boy Hatchard is the vulnerable, yet hardened Ste, and watching his cares dissipate as the play progresses is truly wonderful. Suranne Jones delivers a stellar performance as the brassy, over-protective Sandra, dismayed by the realisation that her son is gay. The coming out scene is truly upsetting, yet not overplayed with saccharine sentiment and packs a genuine emotional punch. In an amusingly overcooked, but thoroughly convincing performance, Zaraah Abrahams is stunning as the foul-mouthed, tearaway Leah.

Harvey’s writing and canny ability to inject humour into gritty, emotional set pieces is still wonderfully affecting 20 years on. Who thought a shade of tissues could be so hilariously distracting? The play is set (and was written) in a time when Section 28 was in place and gay characters were usually limited to marginalised rent boys. It’s truly brilliant of Harvey to have created three-dimensional and more tangible gay characters underpinning a touching, sincere and relatable story.

The troubles Ste faces, however, are perhaps too subtly handled, as the film production of the play was given added grittiness and disdain for Ste’s reprehensible drug-dealing brother and alcoholic father. Nonetheless, the cast are truly wonderful and thoroughly engaging and the confined set adds to the realism of the tensions bubbling over.

With music from the formidable Mama Cass punctuating pivotal points in this timeless play, this production of Beautiful Thing will delight stalwarts and entice many newcomers to witness this poignant story unfold. Here’s to the next twenty years. Simply beautiful.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
Tags: arts theatre london, beautiful thing, danny-boy hatchard, jake davis, jonathan harvey, mama cass, stage review, suranne jones, zaraah abrahams

Related Posts

Did you like this entry?
Here are a few more posts that might be interesting for you.
Related Posts
Sweet Bird of Youth
The Book of Mormon

Search Polari

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

Twitter

Tweets by @PolariMagazine

Archive

  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
© Copyright - Polari Magazine - Wordpress Theme by Kriesi.at
  • scroll to top
  • Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Website Privacy & Cookies