Circa

The Old red Lion Theatre, 5th Mar - 30th Mar

Tom Ratcliffe has been a busy man. Fresh from his appearance in February as actor and writer of one man play Velvet (shown as part of this years VAULT Festival), he has returned to his first play Circa, and brought it to London’s Old Red Lion Theatre for a four week run throughout March. Tom has stepped down from his acting duties in favour of an impressive five-strong cast as his writing turns its attention away from the #MeToo flavour of Velvet to #LoveWins in Circa… but does it? This is the question running throughout this study into what it means to be in a gay relationship in the 21st century. It may be easier than ever to meet a potential partner, but why are so many gay men are still lonely?

The cast is not the only thing that has grown in size since Velvet, with set design, (Luke W. Robson), scope and duration of the play all being sufficiently ramped up. Given this is actually a return to Ratcliffe’s first play, it is definitely on an ambitious scale and doesn’t shy away from a complex structure which is to be admired. Unfortunately, sometimes the framework around which we are guided through one mans romantic journey over a thirty year period seems to somewhat slip away from both writer and director’s (Andy Twyman) grip, making the shifting timeline and the characters that inhabit it, (all of who remain unnamed for the most part), a sometimes confusing experience. The main issue is that whilst some of the characters seemingly pass through one of the plays eight vignettes to the next, other characters change in a way that lacks clarity, leaving the audience distracted at the start of each new scene as they try to work out exactly who’s story they are watching and where they are within it.

This is a real shame as both Ratcliffe’s skill for dialogue and the actors performances of it, in any one of their given roles, is impressive, most notably Thomas Flynn (listed ambiguously as playing The Young Man / The Rent Boy / The Younger Man) who manages to steal each scene he appears in, and builds his performance up to an unexpected highlight in Circa’s second half. (You won’t be getting any spoilers here, suffice to say his is a memorable performance). The rest of the cast also produce strong performances as the play tries, and actually often succeeds in making some well observed comments on sex, sexuality and relationships.

The journey Ratcliffe takes us on feels as original as it is highly watchable, albeit with this frustrating lack of clarity around the character changes, but on the strength of this and the previous outing of his self-penned Velvet last month, I am sure Tom Ratcliffe is going to be a playwright we are sure to be seeing more from in the future. 

★★★

Production Photos: Lidia Crisafulli