My Night with Reg, Apollo Theatre ****

Marking the 21st birthday of the first performance of My Night with Reg and about a year since the passing away of  it's playwright Kevin Elliot, the performance felt especially special. Unfortunately, it was quite disheartening to see that only the stalls and part of the dress circle were full. It's dissapointing to see that whilst the average amount of unsold tickets in the West End for March was 20%, that this remarkable play is far above the average. The play itself is set in one room and is about a group of homosexuals who, under the backdrop of the 1980s and AIDS, the six men's lives interweave in fascinating ways, revolving round one man who is never seen, 'Reg'. The impact of this play when it was first produced can never be replicated as AIDS is not seen as so dangerous in the modern age and homosexuality is mostly accepted by all (except some christian fundamentalists, one of whom put a sticker on the front of the theatre saying 'Jesus saves sinners. Repent and baptise'). Therefore, when there is some full- frontal male nudity in the third act, it never shocks in the way that it should. The bits that still shock are the narrative twists which are littered throughout the play. This has become a period piece which depicts a certain age with only certain relevance today. This production is superbly well performed. Each character is three dimensional and doesn't just conform to gay stereotypes. The main presentation of that stereotype is Daniel performed by The Thick of It's Geoffrey Streatfield who shows his camp, fabulous side in a hilarious first act performance. This performance changes is the last two acts which turns him into a wholly different character. Julien Ovenden, in  a break from his musical work, plays the mach, cool guy John who shows true sentimentality. The show's lead, Jonathan Broadbent, plays a diverse Guy who is the most upstanding of the group but has a worrying back story, with a confession in the first act which is truly horrifying yet just shrugged off by the others. The rest of the cast (Lewis Reeves, Richard Cant and Matt Bardock) do a magnificent job of demonstrating the young, the dull and the working class homosexuals showing a diverse range in what would otherwise be just another show with a cast full of middle aged, middle class, white men. Perhaps the designs from Peter Mckintosh doesn't quite fit the Apollo's stage and perhaps the LED lights at the side of the stage doesn't quite work with the set which resembles a 'See How They Run' style farce which captures the comedy and juxtaposes the tragedy within the play. However, this is a play that deserves sell out audiences as well as it's Olivier nomination. It portrays a section of society that is rarely directly addressed in theatre, despite popular opinion, and it is a joy to experience.