Jack Holden’s monologue about gay subculture in Soho during the height of the Aids epidemic never rises above the level of camp stock stereotypes★★☆☆☆Perhaps it’s all down to the generation gap. Perhaps there should be a warning that the piece is not suitable for the over-40s. The actor Jack Holden’s monologue about gay subculture in Soho during the height of the Aids epidemic is part of Nimax’s Rising Stars Festival, a showcase for young producers that is designed to entice a new audience into the West End. So it’s possible, I suppose, that the contents of this 90-minute piece will seem fresh and informative to millennials who are approaching the subject for the first time. To anyone old enough to remember the 1980s it’s a gruelling route march through just about every hedonistic cliché of the time, from coke to cottaging.

Source: The Times May 21, 2021 11:03 UTC