Good drama should, of course, speak to everyone — and not just a niche audience. Yet this is not good drama, and I am not its target clientele.
A large audience of gay men assembled for S Asher Gelman’s off-Broadway hit about a gay married couple in an open relationship, but enthusiasm levels were decidedly dampened come the end.
Quite a bit of the 85-minute running time of Tom O’Brien’s production consists of characters either putting on or taking off clothes, which is less exciting than it sounds. A briefly glimpsed threesome gets Afterglow off to a racy start, but thereafter there are tight boxer shorts where tight plotting would be more useful.
Josh (Sean Hart) and Alex (Danny Mahoney) are married and expecting a baby through a surrogate, but such impending domesticity does nothing to dampen their lust for extra-marital pleasure. When they hook up with young Darius (Jesse Fox), and the insatiable Josh is instantly smitten, the lumpen plot goes exactly where you think it will. With a couple of shower scenes thrown in to sustain flagging interest.
The characters are paper-thin and have the sort of perplexing working routines only seen in drama, where everyone has endless hours for languid daytime sex and never has to answer an email. Gelman offers glimpses of fruitful ruminations on internet dating and emotional commitment but doesn’t develop them. “Nobody wrote a fairy tale about polyamory,” says Josh. Nope, and this isn’t it.
Until July 20 (020 7407 0234, southwarkplayhouse.co.uk)
Latest theatre reviews
