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Beautiful Thing, a CurtainUp London review CurtainUp
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A CurtainUp London London Review
Beautiful Thing



Are you gay?----Ste.
I'm very happy when I'm with you.----Jamie.
Beautiful Thing
Andrew Garfield as Jamie
(Photo: Alessandro Evangelista)
Jonathan Harvey's best-known play was first staged at the fringe Bush Theatre in 1993, then went on to become a big West End hit and was filmed in 1996. In the nineties Harvey was sometimes labelled as a "gay playwright", along with the likes of Kevin Elyot, Larry Kramer and Tony Kushner, but was criticized for being insufficiently political. It is true that, although in later plays Harvey did cover darker subjects such as AIDS and bereavement, he has always succeeded in entertaining mainstream audiences. Much of his commercial writing for TV sitcoms and soaps has been mediocre, but Beautiful Thing remains a joyous and touching love story.

The title refers not to gay love as such but to the first love experienced by two 16-year-olds, Jamie (Andrew Garfield) and Ste (Gavin Brocker), one summer on a council estate in south-east London. Jamie bunks off from sport at school, while Ste is renowned for his all-round sporting prowess, but when Ste stays over one night after a violent argument with his father and brother, their mutual attraction develops into sexual awakening and romance blossoms.

Jamie's mother Sandra (Sophie Stanton) is too preoccupied with her shift work as a barmaid and with her dope-smoking artist boyfriend Tony (Leo Bill) to notice what's going on, but the Mama Cass-obsessed girl next door, Leah (Naomi Bentley), soon realizes why Ste hasn't responded to her advances.

Much has changed since the play was written -- including the repeal of the discriminatory Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act forbidding the "promotion of homosexuality", the lowering of the homosexual age of consent to 18 and, most recently, the introduction of 'civil partnerships' for gay people - but Beautiful Thing has dated well because it is more romantic than polemical. Yes, the drama is fairly lightweight with a sentimental ending, but this tender comedy of adolescent love retains its charm.

The setting of a working-class housing estate is nicely re-created in Ben Stones's design, complete with concrete balustrade and variously coloured front doors, while the soundtrack of songs from The Mamas and The Papas has been carefully chosen to echo what is happening in the story.

Under Toby Frow's sensitive and understated direction, the cast give natural and convincing performances in the intimate Sound Theatre. The relationship between Andrew Garfield's hesitant yet determined Jamie and the more masculine awkwardness of Gavin Brocker's Ste is very believable. Sophie Stanton (who played Leah in the original production) is outstanding as the sympathetically vulgar Sandra, a feisty single parent who gives as good as she gets, while Leo Bill is amusingly vague as her current squeeze Tony. Naomi Bentley makes the most of the bored 'slag' Leah who will do anything to attract attention to herself - even 'coming out' as a dyke if necessary.

Editor's Note: It's been seven years since CurtainUp encountered this play (the 1999 review) and it's nice to note that it retains its appeal.

a list of all book reviews, see our,
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BEAUTIFUL THING
Written by Jonathan Harvey
Directed by Toby Frow

With: Naomi Bentley, Leo Bill, Gavin Brocker, Andrew Garfield, Sophie Stanton
Designer: Ben Stones
Lighting Designer: Emma Chapman
Costume Superviser: Poli Kyriacou
An NML Productions production
Running time: Two hours with one interval
Box Office: 0870 890 0503
Booking to 11th February 2006
Reviewed by Neil Dowden based on 13th January 2006 performance at the Sound Theatre, 10 Wardour Street, London W1 (Underground: Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus)
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©Copyright 2006, Elyse Sommer.
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