Kevin Elyot, who died in 2014, is best known for his Nineties play My Night with Reg. The earlier Coming Clean, though less witty, shares its candour about the domestic realities of gay lives.
Largely concerned with the emotional costs of infidelity, it premiered in 1982 — when, as Elyot put it, Aids was ‘a barely credible rumour filtering from across the Atlantic’.
Aspiring writer Tony lives in Kentish Town with Greg, a tightly wound American academic. When they recruit handsome actor Robert to clean their flat each week, it soon becomes a test of what they choose to claim is an open relationship. Anxieties they’ve been smothering for years bubble up, and Tom Lambert’s Robert, initially fresh-faced and earnest, reveals a capacity for merciless scheming.
Adam Spreadbury-Maher’s revival, transferring from the King’s Head in Islington, is respectful of the play’s early Eighties atmosphere, yet makes it clear that this is more than a period piece. At times the discussion of desire and jealousy is laboured, but humour is injected by the couple’s flamboyant friend William.
His tendency to be flippant about the intricacies of his sex life means that even after being beaten up by homophobes he claims he’s simply made a bad job of applying his make-up.
Elliot Hadley’s performance as William blends outrageousness and genuine warmth, while Lee Knight nails Tony’s mix of charm and insecurity. Greg is a comparatively thankless role for Stanton Plummer-Cambridge — too much of the time he’s expected to portray silent self-absorption. A few racy moments aside, their unravelling partnership is the stuff of a conventional comedy of manners, but there are hints of the strengths of Elyot’s later work.
Until February 2
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