Gentlemen ✩✩✩✩
Arcola Theatre, London
The first term for new arrivals at university is a heady mix of emotions. For young people, often away from home and lifelong friends for the first time, this involves channeling high levels of hormones and intelligence with newly-found freedoms and prospects, and the opportunity to create a new identity for oneself, away from previous societal restrictions. Loneliness and insecurities are rife, and the underlying goal above anything else is survival of the first year. Matt Parvin’s excellent new play, Gentlemen, currently on at London’s cute Arcola Theatre in Dalston, takes this scenario and runs with it.
Party-loving, testosterone-fuelled Greg (Charlie Beck) and softly-spoken, well-dressed Kaspar (Issam Al Ghussein), both freshers at a top city university, are summonsed to a meeting with their university welfare officer Timby, (Edward Judge). Greg has been accused of plagiarising one of Kaspar’s essays. Well-meaning Timby tries to resolve the issue but he hates conflict, is out of his depth and is quick-witted, and highly fluent Greg runs rings around him. Kaspar remains surprisingly silent, although the reasons for this become clear as the conversation and accusations gradually take a darker turn, leading to unpredictable power dynamics between the three men.
Parvin’s fine-tuned, intelligent, multi-layered script takes us back to our awkward late teen years. Themes of survival, power, bisexuality, sexual assault, male toxicity, white heterosexual privilege, vengeance, class, and institutional life are all explored in a timeless set. It’s an interesting study of how so many long-established institutions struggle to deal with 21st-century issues regarding identity and consent. Perfect casting and impeccable performances let the audience focus on the thought-provoking drama, particularly the conundrum of vengeance. A very entertaining soiree.
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
