The Pride

Knocked my socks off good. Four actors seamlessly move between characters and two time periods pre and post out-of-the-closet eras for gays. In one setting, we have a wife and husband who are introduced to the wife's co-worker on a book. Obviously the two men share something. In the more modern setting, we have a guy struggling to stay committed to his partner as he casually seeks flings and one really strange Nazi fantasy. Back and forth the characters move, staying in the same stage setting, using movement lighting to transport the audience back and forth between the two worlds.

While this might sound disjointed and chaotic, it actually has the opposite effect after the first few shifts. The flips also serve to pause the story for dramatic effect, leaving little cliff hangers here and there. I found both stories of struggle very personal and poignant. I felt the suffering of the repressed homosexual back in the 50s not wanting to be 'different' and labeled perverse, even mentally ill. I also wanted the modern guy to get his shit together and hold onto someone who loved him. None of this would have been possible without the fabulous cast - Hugh Dancy (Adam, Journey's End), Adam James (Last Chance Harvey), Andrea Riseborough (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Ben Whishaw (Bright Star, Brideshead Revisited).

I loved the first half, the home lives and character build-ups. The second half seemed bumpier. The magazine editor's story about wanting a edgy homo-written piece for his men's magazine could have come off as a forced push to shove the politics of the time into the audience but luckily there was a personal recounting of an uncle he visited in hospital and that one moment saved an otherwise loud monologue of sorts. While some sections floundered to find meaning in the story arc, this bothered me less upon reflection because all struggles, personal, political, and social, take time and don't naturally and always move forward. There are bumps along the way and some just stop on the path, even go backwards. So some ends get tied up, others seem left hanging. Still, it was one excellent play that deserves a wider audience. The play may be focused on gay experiences but the story is universal - finding personal pride when society tries to take it away. Beautiful.