Teddy Ferrara ***

Donmar Warehouse, London

EXCERPT: "it's a bit all over the place and is probably not hard hitting enough (other than being quite sexually graphic). But as an enjoyable piece that would inspire a very short bit of post-drink chat, it is pretty good"

Summary

It's Gabe's senior year and he's going to make the most of it. He’s the chair of the LGBTQ Students Group, and he has one eye on a future in politics and one eye on Drew, the editor of the university newspaper. But as Gabe and his friends throw themselves into campus life, unexpected events reveal a darker, lonelier world inhabited by a freshman called Teddy Ferrara. Dominic Cooke directs the UK premiere of Christopher Shinn’s insightful and revealing play which, inspired by real events, explores society’s uncomfortable embrace of the outsider.

Thoughts

I enjoyed Dominic Cooke's production of Christopher Shinn's play. Apart from some fairly poor blocking from Cooke - I haven't felt my sightlines were so compromised before at the Donmar and have had worse seats - the direction, acting, lighting (by Paule Constable), sound (by Carolyn Downing) and set (by Hildegard Bechtler) are fairly hard to criticise. The writing perhaps less so. The play is made up of lots of different scenes and locations and in this production all the creatives have worked as hard as possible to minimise shifts between small scenes and make larger scene changes more obvious, which thereby tries to make us feel like it is more traditionally structured and that the scenes are more substantial. The characters feel real and the play's exploration of the issues that gay people still face is valid and important. I like the way it showcases lots of different people's attitudes to the situation without coming down on one side. However, it's a bit all over the place and is probably not hard hitting enough (other than being quite sexually graphic). But as an enjoyable piece that would inspire a very short bit of post-drink chat, it is pretty good, I'd say.