Beautiful Thing - Stratford East / Leeds / Manchester

Good to hear. I saw it on stage many years ago, with an excellent and very young Zubin Varla as Jamie.

I saw that show too was the sound theatre tiny up some stairs in the centre , remember sitting with my feet almost on Jamie’s bed we were that close …. Saw the anniversary production too with surrane jones and arts there then the tour with Charlie brooks …. Love the play but the film is so iconic it’s so difficult to see and hear others say those lines …. Tameka will forever be Leya

I LOVED this. It's funny and moving: the original Heartstopper still stopping hearts.

Some spoilers follow. . .

I saw the 1996 film back in the day and since, and I saw the Arts Theatre Production, with it's two casts, about ten years ago, and this production is as much a joy as those, for me.

The legendary original 1993 Bush Theatre production, which I didn't see, with Jonny Lee Miller as Ste, Philip Glenister as Tony and Sophie Stanton as Leah, was an all-white affair (the play doesn't specify), then the 1996 film diversified the cast, including a black actress, Tameka Empson as a powerful unforgettable Leah, and now this 30th anniversary production flips Leah white again and everyone else is black.

And it makes no difference to the play. It's still marvellous entertainment, with feisty characters zinging each other in the background, while a tender positive gay relationship blossoms in the foreground. It's still dramatic. it's still funny. It still doesn't pretend life is a bed of roses, while it still admires roses when they peek out unexpectedly.

With the play originating in Jonathan Harvey's desire to depict gay people positively and truthfully, in an era where Section 28 (banning the "promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities and schools) was a thing and the AIDS panic was in full swing, and with those things gone or diminished now, the idea of giving young black gay men a rare chance to see themselves depicted on stage feels perfect, allowing the play to pave a positive path even after 30 years.

Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran came as a late replacement to the lead role of Jamie, but you wouldn't know it, cos he glues this production together with a gentle aspect and a quick wit. As the object of his affection, Raphael Akudwudike is equally genial, despite the bruised torment of his abusive family, which he wears with a heartbreakingly noble fortified forbearance. The two have a convincing chemistry, and their interactions, in which their silences speak as much as their words, are a heartwarming delight.

As the neighbour with a barb for everyone, Scarlett Rayner's Leah is softer than you'd imagine for this embattled character, giving Leah's zingers a beta I'm-only-joking humorous breeziness that contrasts with Tameka Empson's more unforgiving alpha confrontational aspect in the film. It's a refreshingly original depiction, which detrimentally leaves less walls around the character for the drama to break down, while advantageously allowing the character to be more raucously and pleasingly funny.

Shvorne Marks makes her mark as Jamie's outwardly tough but inwardly warm mother, Sandra, and as Tony, her middle-class boyfriend, Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge's self-concious wide-eyed knowingness is endearing and amusing.

All in all, Jonathan Harvey's play may not have quite as hostile an environment in 2023 to disrupt as it did in 1993, but it features so much good character-writing, with relentless oppositional cheek and attack, that it's still great fun to watch thirty years down the line.

4 and a half stars from me.

I was worried this might feel dated but really enjoyed it this afternoon. Did not like the end though.