The anonymity of a big city is a freeing environment for the queer community – you can be who you want to be, and nobody notices. Contrast the city with this Daddy’s First Gay Date set in Chorley in northern England, and the reality is that queer life feels like a big deal.
Ben, played by Sam Danson (BI-TOPIA), is in his early 30s, and he has a dramatic evening. He’s finally ready to end his heterosexual relationship but discovers he’s going to be a dad. Tim, played by Dior Clarke (Passion Fruit), is the waiter that night, and he drunkenly gets involved with Ben in the cubicle, whilst pregnant Helen, played by Megan Edmondson, is left at the table.
The pacing of the play is like riding a bike down a hill in San Francisco, the momentum pulls you into its jet stream as it opens in the middle of a punchy break-up. Whilst the pace is fast, the drama is kept light with one-liners like: ‘You look like a f**cking womble’ and ‘Child support for cats?’.
Watching Danson on stage is entertaining because his character is wound up tightly but tries to pass himself off as easy-going. The mixture of rough northerner with polite Englishman is a fun characterisation. It’s also a great contrast to the seemingly confident character of Tim, who carries much heavier baggage.
The storyline explores the challenge of finding your own identity, with the characters continuously breaking conformity. Examples of this include the straight man we don’t see on stage, who is referred to as ‘gay Craig’, ‘Just because he’s a cake decorator doesn’t mean he’s gay.’ Nobody fits expectations, and that keeps us interested as an audience.
The play shines with moments of poignance, it recognises the white man’s queer journey is often focused on stereotypes like how to dress gay. However, for our queer black character Tim, there’s a fantastic line: ‘This is tourism for you, this is my forever.’ The line highlights that as a double minority, his story isn’t a light-hearted romp, it’s a journey of dealing with hate crime, bullying and an abusive relationship.
Tim’s journey of finding therapy and a friend in Ben is a fulfilling story arc. Clarke’s embodiment of the role is well executed and comes across authentically.
Helen and Ben’s relationship is full of hilarious moments. Helen shows how to be an ally, whilst Ben goes on benders to try and find himself. The ‘I’ve got nothing left’ Ian Beale reference is hilarious, as is the Wicked car ride sing-a-long. They act like a couple that you almost want to get back together and work things out.
Act two is more tender and serious in tone as Tim opens up about not enjoying the non-monogamy of his relationship, and Ben shares the challenge of every queer person who suddenly finds themselves having to enter debates with family members on queer topics and the pressure to represent the community positively.
For a moment, I thought they might all end up as a throuple. You’re left hoping that the happily ever after can happen in a world where the meaning of life is to try and be less of a bad person than everyone else.
What I loved about the show was how it explored people’s fronts. They get angry or lie just to prove they are okay rather than admit the truth. The show is so enjoyable because it tackles the hard facts of life with a continuous comedic tone.
It runs until 16 November.
Review: James Dix Photos: Jason Locke