The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

The Boys in the Band at the Vaudeville Theatre

The Boys in the Band at the Vaudeville Theatre | Theatre review
9 February 2017
Laura Foulger
Avatar
Laura Foulger
9 February 2017

Mart Crowley’s play about eight gay men (and one confessed straight man) was a novel glimpse into a hidden way of life when it premiered, bringing the gay scene to the mainstream for the first time. It’s explosive and honest, featuring characters that straddle the line between exasperating and heart-rending.

Michael has thrown a birthday party for Harold. Although the cake and the kiss-o-gram cowboy are in place, the mood begins to sour as the men’s personal demons begin to fight for air in the ever-shrinking apartment. When the married and indignantly hetero Alan drops by, Michael finds old wounds resurfacing. The host implements a dangerous game, which dictates that each guest must call a man they love and tell him so. In the thinly disguised veil of fun, devastation reigns.

Alongside relentless comedy and pockets of joyfulness, the play refers to depression, shrink visits, debt, catholic guilt and self-loathing. Abject tragedy is sprinkled so flippantly throughout as to posit that a gay man’s life is not noteworthy for its wretchedness, as if it’s par for the course. Even in the sanctuary of a private apartment, the unsympathetic outside world reaches in through the boys’ tales of growing up hiding their sexuality, through Alan’s disgust and through references to the current social climate (we’re reminded that, in the 1960s, shows of homosexuality could result in being sacked from work).

The wonderful Mark Gatiss as Harold is slick as oil, unruffled and equipped with an acerbic tongue. He is not without his own demons, but the disparity between his composure and the accusations from Michael of crippling low self-esteem hint at a man getting through life with a very well-fitted mask.

It’s an all-round capable cast, but the action often lacks subtlety. Some of the individual phone calls between the men and their secret loves border on the saccharine.

Set and premiered in 1968, the play precedes by one year the Stonewall Riots in New York that set off the LGBT liberation movement. Witnessing this historically important piece now, it does not elicit the shock it first did (if it did, it wouldn’t have done its job the first time round) but it’s still pertinent. In the same week that it transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre, US senator Jason Rapert proposed to ban gay marriage in all 50 states. For better or for worse, The Boys in the Band is still needed.

★★★★★

Laura Foulger
Photo: Darren Bell

The Boys in the Band is at the Vaudeville Theatre from 7th until 18th February 2017. Book your tickets here.

Related Itemsfeaturedreview

More in Theatre

Late Night Staring at High Res Pixels

★★★★★
Brooke Snowe
Read More

Redemption Room at Secret Theatre Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rice! at Omnibus Theatre

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

24, 23, 22 at Chronic Insanity Online

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice at Southwark Playhouse Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Typical at Soho Theatre

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Grimm Tales for Fragile Times and Broken People

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild

Michael Higgs
Read More

Living Record Festival: Ain’t No Female Romeo

★★★★★
Brooke Snowe
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Laura Foulger

The Boys in the Band

★★★★★

Dates

7th February - 18th February 2017

BUY TICKETS

Links & directions

TwitterFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Celebrate International Women’s Day with a Bombay Sapphire Cocktails & Create masterclass
    Food & Drinks
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Bicep at Saatchi Gallery Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • “At school, I always asked myself what my teachers were really like as human beings”: Director Maria Speth on Mr Bachmann and His Class
    Berlinale
  • Voice of Silence
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Delectible drinks that would make the perfect Mother’s Day gift
    Food & Drinks
  • The Dissident
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • “I am not the kind of actor who is really interested in mimicry”: Tom Schilling on Fabian – Going to the Dogs
    Berlinale
  • The Dissident
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Guzen to sozo)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Moxie
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Souad
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • We (Nous)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Rigoletto at the London Coliseum | Theatre review
Killing Time at Park Theatre | Theatre review