Ginger Beer
Kings Head Theatre, 117th, 19th, 21st Oct 2017
It’s back to the Kings Head Theatre for another new play in their highly enjoyable late night theatre series, a concept I am enjoying more and more as time goes on, given the originality and diversity of the programming, the opportunity it has given new writers to showcase their work... plus it’s actually just a damn entertaining way to end an evening out.
Tonights offering was Ginger Beer, co written and co directed by upcoming playwrights Hallam Breen and Phoebe Simmonds. which was first performed earlier this year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to very positive reviews. On paper the play sounded like a fairly uninspiring take on the now tried and tested formula of internet dating, saunas, chemsex parties and one-night stands as the aspects of life that challenge a young gay man in 2017. Has it all been seen before… yes it has. Does this latest take on those themes draw any new conclusions, maybe not but… and it’s a big ‘but’… what saves this production is the exceptional quality of the writing, particularly in the first half, as well as the acting on display here.
The story follows Sammy, (wonderfully played by Ned Costello) who feels somewhat displaced in a whirlwind of the more transient aspects of the modern gay scene, much of which are brought to his door (quite literally) by his flatmate El (an impressive performance from Jonas Moore, as an acerbic drag performer). Theirs is an affectionate relationship and, from Sammy’s perspective, an unrequited one despite El’s propensity for drug taking and one night stands. It’s something he must watch from the sidelines despite El’s attempts to try and sweep Sammy up into the madness, introducing two potential internet ‘shags’ into their lives, Max (Joseph Kelly) and Straight (Will Kirk).
Ginger Beer is genuinely very funny, and the dialogue crackles along at an incredible pace. This is made all the more impressive by the skill with which the writers have Sammy simultaneously being both part of the action as well as continually breaking the fourth wall to comment on the action to the audience. It’s a dramatic device that could have easily got very messy, very quickly were it not so skilfully done, and at no point did this feel anything less than completely under the control of both the writers and the superb delivery by Costello, whose comic timing was a joy to watch.
For the first half of the play the dialogue is sharp and snappy, and when the comedy hits, which it does more than successfully for the most part, Ginger Beer feels completely original despite my initial misgivings about the subject matter. It does become a play of two halves however, divided by a rather misplaced soliloquy when Sammy takes himself for a walk, playing like a disappointing ‘middle 8’ in an otherwise banging tune, and from that point the pace shifts down a gear, the tone becomes darker and more serious, which for me starts to highlight the few cracks in this production.
“I’m not sure at what point my life became a gay cliché" Sammy declares, but there are times when the play relies on one to many of these itself. That drinking beer is seen as the epitome of masculinity seems both dated and, by it’s constant repetition, over stated, (although it would be wrong of me not to point out that it did get a laugh from the audience). That a nicely decorated flat was called "typically gay", and the name of the bar where El works is The Closet also felt a bit tired, (although a google search did reveal that a bar called The Closet does actually exist in Weymouth, Dorset, so what do I know!), but it is only because of the quality of the writing displayed elsewhere that I felt these one to many hackneyed stereotypes could have been improved upon.
It is no easy task to write and perform comedy of a standard that felt as witty and original as was displayed in the first half of this production though, and on that basis I couldn’t help but think that the team should possibly have lessened their dramatic ambitions here to stick closer to this winning formula throughout. Having said that, Ginger Beer is a more than enjoyable watch. The laughs are thick and fast when they come, with Breen and Simmonds showing they are more than capable of writing fresh and perfectly paced comedy. They also manage to slip in some amusing and inventive off-stage action along the way. I will definitely be keeping an eye on Limerence Productions in the future and very much look forward to seeing what they produce next.
★★★ and a half
