Review at a glance
First performed in 1993 at the Bush Theatre (it transferred to the Donmar and the West End), Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing is one of our best-loved gay texts.
The story of teenage boys who fall in love on a housing estate in south-east London, the play was considered radical because it had a happy ending.
Later the Channel 4 film, scripted by Harvey, won plaudits for its witty dialogue. So turning it into a text-free dance-theatre piece — as part of Pride in a co-production between Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) and Peabody — could be seen as an act of provocation.
But directors Bradley Hemmings and Robby Graham have a trump card. They’re staging the piece outdoors against the backdrop of Thamesmead where the play is set.
Today the flats on Binsey Walk are set to be demolished to make way for new housing, but the concrete walkways function as a brilliant stage.
Perched on a grassy hill opposite, the audience can gaze in through the windows, Rear Window-style. We see teenagers Jamie and Ste fall in lust, while Jamie’s mum teases her toyboy and rows with her neighbour.
The action is conceived as series of split narratives — dancers perform in around the buildings, while dazzling digital projections by NOVAK animate the block. One minute the concrete is drenched in technicolour flowers; the next it resembles a prison. Cars whiz past. A Routemaster takes the boys out clubbing (escape is a key theme).
Harvey never intended the piece to be overtly political. But watching working-class boys slow dance in a housing estate where Clockwork Orange was filmed creates a real frisson. Don’t miss this beautifully re-imagined piece.
Until July 7