Gentlemen

Arcola Theatre • 4th Oct - 28th Oct

Despite it having taken over three years for Matt Parvin’s play Gentlemen to be brought to the stage, it previously having been one of the many COVID casualties of the pandemic lockdown in 2020, I still had little idea what to expect as I took my seat at the Arcola Theatre. Directed by Richard Speir, there are quite a few surprises tucked away in the unfolding narrative of this tense drama, but just when I thought I had the measure of this three hander at the end of a particularly powerful first half, everything then gets flipped into a direction I definitely had not seen coming, as the second half begins with a prolonged scene consisting of a crumpet loving General Franco turning on his ‘deviant’ doctor coming as a complete surprise. I won’t spoil exactly how the play manages to get there, but it is one of many surprising turns this play makes.

Things start in a fairly inconspicuous way, as we find University students Gregg (Charlie Beck) and Kasper (Issam Al Ghussainin) attending a meeting with the Universities Welfare Officer, Timby (Edward Judge) who is mediating a complaint about Gregg plagiarising from Kasper in his latest essay. As Greg turns on his ‘laddish’ charm, he seems more than capable of articulating his way out of any immediate possibility of expulsion, a survival instinct we assume he has had to rely on many times before, and despite trying to make Gregg aware of the seriousness of the situation, it seems Timby would rather not alienate himself from either of the boys, and finds himself flipping from one side of the argument to the other under the weight of Gregg’s streetwise linguistic prowess, and is at a loss to make the verbose Gregg see the error of his ways. Throughout these snappy and superbly written exchanges, Kasper is at first noticeable only by his prolonged and almost timid silence, possibly an indication that he is no match for Greggs own verbal dexterity, or maybe confident that he has sufficient social status on his side that gives him the unwritten authority to be believed, and thus not only continue to flourish during his time at University, but usurp northern scholarship student Gregg and everything he stands for in the process.

The situation escalates, and by the time Gregg and Kasper are brought back to Timby’s office for a second time, the accusation has shifted to homophobic and biphobic bullying, and whilst Gregg once again attempts to pass this off as ‘lad’s banter’, Kasper has finally found his voice, and is determined that this time there will be no escape for Gregg, expulsion being the only satisfactory conclusion. So begins a shift in the audience’s allegiances as the line between ‘manipulator’ and ‘manipulated’ becomes increasingly blurred between all three characters, the situation they find themselves in escalating into new and altogether more challenging territory.

This is all powerfully dealt with in the first half, as both script and the standout performances from all three actors makes this a fascinating, intriguing not to mention uncomfortable journey at times. The dialogue rattles along at a machine gun pace with the various arguments being shot down from all sides so that each can claim the high ground in the actions they choose to employ in order to resolve the situation to their own satisfactory conclusion. So effectively paced is this first half however, that Gentleman unfortunately fails to meet the same heady heights after the intermission. There’s an issue with uneven pacing that creeps in after the aforementioned General Franco scene which, whilst undeniably giving Edward Judge the chance to extend his impressive versatility as an actor, leaves Issam Al Ghussain having to hold the stage for far too long with nothing much to do as proceedings are slowly brought back to Timby’s office. The ripples of this uneven pacing seem to spread throughout the second half, and whilst all three actors never deviate from their commitment to show their characters increased desperation as events begin to spiral even further out of control, the play never quite regains the sharpness of its initial momentum… That’s not to say that there aren’t still a few more shocking moments waiting to be served up in this tense and unpredictable drama, but it just falls short of packing an altogether harder punch that a bit of tightening in the second half might have provided.

★★★

review: Simon J. Webb

photographs: Alex Brenner