Owen Dennis in Soho Boy at the Drayton Arms Theatre, London. Picture: Nick Brittain Photography
Soho Boy continues at the Drayton Arms Theatre, London until 4 June 2022, then heads to theSpace @ Symposium Hall (Venue 43) as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 5 to 27 August 2022.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
If the name didn’t make it obvious enough, it’s crystal clear from the bethonged poster for Paul Emelion Daly’s new musical Soho Boy that it’s going to be a bit fruity. And the signs you pass on the walls of the staircase as you head up to the first-floor theatre at the Drayton Arms further titillate, with their warnings of adult content, sex, drugs and nudity.
And yes, it’s all in there, in LAMBCO Productions’ hour-long headrush through a young gay boy’s first experience of living in London and pinballing through the scene.
The boy is Spencer, and he’s played with awe-inspiring courage by soon-to-be Italia Conti graduate Owen Dennis. From the off, it’s doe-eyed Dennis who makes this new musical ping, delivering as he does a captivating performance that’s cute, sweet, sexy, confused, abused, heartbreaking… He really does run the gamut from gay to Z, and for a professional debut, it’s impressive. His pitching is a little uneven at times, but then he’s carrying the whole show and pulling off Robbie O’Reilly’s choreography as he sings. Anyway, what’s important is that the overall performance trumps the vocals and Dennis’ Spencer is natural, believable and very likeable.
When we first meet the young shop assistant, it might seem like butter won’t melt. He’s a sweet boy, even if he does avoid his mother’s calls asking him about the girls he’s dating. He dreams of performing in cabaret and does a nifty job of ‘borrowing’ clothes from the shop he works at (‘no stains!’ he implores to a hook-up). But before long, he’s pilling-it up in the nightclubs, smashing down shots and deep-throating Pornstar Martinis, and generally bumping and grinding through London. He’s basically making the most of being a flirty young newcomer to the capital’s vast and varied gay scene. Then he meets a boy, they hit it off, and that’s when things start to derail.
Director Matt Strachan and designer David Shields keep it simple, and don’t let our focus waver off Spencer for a second. Daniel McKeown provides the video design, which is used in a very abstract, almost indistinguishable way. No bad thing.
Daly, the composer-lyricist – and presumably book writer, for no credit is given in the programme – uses his allotted hour to cram in as much as he can (likely a restriction imposed by the Edinburgh Fringe, where this show is headed in August). A lot of bases are covered, and quickly: sweet closeted twink coming to London, discovery of gay scene, sex, drugs and clubbing, some light bondage, dragging up, chemsex, HIV. It’s all here, and at the rapid pace it’s ticked off, it tends towards cliché. There’s no time for depth or development. One wonders what more could be done with the pacing if the clock wasn’t ticking.
The text is occasionally very funny, and always tinged with regret and sadness. It is also very knowing. No surprise, really, coming from the creator of shows with titles like When Harry Met Barry, Boys in the Club, Bendover and Charming Dick! Daly has done sterling worth in the LGBTQ+ sphere, and has developed it further with this piece.
Musically, it also covers a good number of bases, and MD and orchestrator Aaron Clingham has provided a stonking set of backing tracks. The variety of music is especially appreciated in this single-hander, as it keeps the pace up and gives the audience plenty to feast on. There is a weird lack of buttons, mind you, so the audience is never quite sure if it’s okay to applaud, which does suggest perhaps a little more could be done with the song arcs.
The overall essence is traditional musical theatre, with a bit of a late-80s/early-90s vibe: ‘What Would You Do?’, the lovely ‘Closest to Paradise’, and the audience-pleaser ‘Leather and Chains’, at least if you extend your definition of ‘traditional’ to leather-gear-and-bondage songs. Hmm. Spencer’s phoned-in coming-out anthem ‘Hey Mum’ is gloriously gay and over the top, thanks to Clingham’s soaring Mantovani-style strings. And there are even echoes of the Pet Shop Boys (‘Strut Into Soho’) and Marlene Dietrich (‘Drag Queen Superstar’).
Lyrically it’s a bit trite in places – often not the strictest of rhyming schemes, but then I’m old fashioned like that.
Soho Boy is a sweet coming-of-age cautionary tale that deals with the underbelly of the gay scene. As such, it’s an important piece of theatre that I hope gets its message across to those who need to hear it most. The sensationalised poster, the sexy publicity shots and the flesh warnings risk overshadowing what is a rather tender story of one boy’s bad decisions. It’s more than just a saucy gay panto. If nothing else, see it for Dennis’ impressive debut.
Craig Glenday
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