ARiot Theatre production Earworm was first performed in 2024 and returns as part of the Camden Fringe Festival during an unusual London heatwave. The play itself is a cool, observant look at a hot gay relationship between an alternative cabaret musician and a slightly older academic student of gay philosophy who examine their relationship and discover not everything is as resolved or settled as they may think. This involves a crisis erupting after a dinner party with another gay couple when sexual desire shatters the veneer of the two men’s relationship.

Gur Arie Piepskovitz has written a play filled with extraordinary verbal pyrotechnics, including a final 5-minute monologue. At times the play’s structure involves directly addressing the audience with a Greek chorus commenting on the thoughts of Avihud Tidhar, who is the central character Guy. Staging is simple yet often complex, with set design that includes imagined spaces featuring a bed. 

The heart of the play links language and music with specific reference to the songs of the gay musician Sufjan Stevens, which include “Should have known better” and address the mysteries of love, as was featured in the film Call Me By Your Name. The themes of the musician permeate throughout the play with an acute awareness of how gay men often ditch what they love through constant desire for another, which repeats cycles and ultimately denies fulfilment. Hence the title Earworm with its musical sense of repetition that provides a hint of the structure and themes of Arthur Schnitzler’s bitter sweet turn of the century play La Ronde.

This is a short, tight 75-minute play with sharp ensemble playing by all four actors that will appeal to gay audiences who recognise accurate portrayals of gay life. More discerning ears will appreciate Earworm’s bold and dynamic act of creating a unified art form (theatre) through the symbiotic relationship with that of another (music). It is well worth catching.

Guy’s bangers-riddled mind is compulsively looking for the PERFECT breakup song. =