The Pride at Trafalgar Studios

Easy to blog this one, as there really isn’t anything negative to say.  The play is extremely good and the actors and direction likewise.

A four-hander, The Pride contrasts attitudes towards homosexuality in 1958 and 2008 in an extremely clever and affecting way.  The play opens with Sylvia (Hayley Atwell) a children’s book illustrator, introducing her husband, Philip (Harry Hadden-Paton) a reluctant estate agent, to Oliver (Al Weaver) the author of the book she is illustrating.  It soon becomes clear that the sensitive Oliver is gay, Philip is guiltily and unwittingly attracted to him and Sylvia is aware that her marriage is based on a lie.  The tension is palpable.  Just as we’re trying to see where this state of affairs may lead, wham bam, a Nazi (Matthew Horne) stands centre stage and the play has jumped to 2008.  We soon realize that this Nazi is engaging in role-playing games with the Al Weaver character, also called Oliver.  And thus the changes between the two eras are established.  Although the three main characters have the same names, they are very different.  In 2008 Oliver is a freelance journalist losing his relationship with Philip because of his addiction to casual sex, whilst Sylvia is his long suffering friend who is constantly needed for emotional support.  Matthew Horne, meanwhile, provides comic relief playing not only the Nazi, but a wide-boy editor of a lad’s magazine and a spine chilling doctor who, in 1958, instructs the guilt ridden Philip on aversion therapy in order to “cure” his physical attraction to other men.

Thus we see how these main characters may have lived in the two contrasting eras.  The earlier one is all buttoned up guilty repression, whilst the modern equivalent is gay pride and anything goes.  Because of the strength of the writing and acting, we’re able to connect with the whole cast and also question whether the Olivers of this world are any happier now than they were then.  Repression and guilt can be destructive, but maybe no more so than rampant casual sex.

As I’ve said, the acting is faultless, each actor totally immersing themselves in each of their characters.  Hayley Atwell is painfully sensitive as the wife desperately trying to keep her marriage intact and a spirited, slightly less selfless best friend.  Al Weaver’s Oliver is a heart wrenching lonely soul, who becomes a needy, lost soul in 2008.  Harry Hadon-Paton’s Philip differs slightly less between the two eras, but he is so, so good at portraying the 50’s closet gay.  The scene where his frustration turns to brute force on the poor, hapless Oliver, is almost too painful to watch.  And then when the emotion gets nearly too much to bear, the wonderfully funny Matthew Horne turns up again to provide much needed light relief.

So, there you have it, the young Alexi Kay Campbell’s first play (staged initially at The Royal Court) has it all, originality, humour and profound sadness, all the while providing us with much food for thought.  Couple all this with Soutra Gilmour’s clever design and, once again, Trafalgar Transformed hits the mark perfectly.