Name of event: 2 Grumpy Gay Men Loitering With Intention

Venue: Taurus

Date: 5/7/11

Reviewer: Alexandra Rucki

Rating: 3/5

 

Benjamin and William are loitering, but it is not clear what their intention is.

2 Grumpy Gay Men Loitering With Intention comprises of just two actors, playing regular visitors of Manchester's gay village.

Benjamin, played by Patrick Lally, is representative of the contemporary world, using his iPhone 4 to vent his anger.

In contrast, William (Philip Knight), five years older, does not care about how many friends he has on Facebook and prefers to sip from a flask of vodka tonic he has stashed in his pocket.

The pair debate on a range of political topics ranging from ID cards, the ageing population and John Barrowman.

A large bulk of the plot focuses on the changing landscape of Canal Street.

Ben is desperate to get tickets for Pride 2012 already, but William is less than enthusiastic to watch another D-list celeb in an overcrowded bar - raising the question does Pride still carry the same political message it did in the past?

And then there is Russell T Davies spoiling it for everyone with his creation of Queer as Folk, attracting all the undesirables and hen-do's.

It is not revealed until the very end what the pair are waiting for.

The play was gripping and tackled the subject of modern LGBT culture in an intelligent and thought-provoking way.

The only gripe is that there were quite a few Canal Street in-jokes that maybe not everybody would understand, although the majority of the audience seemed to understand what a twink was.

 

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