Review: COMING CLEAN, The Turbine Theatre

Mark Senior

Ethical non-monogamy, open relationships, polyamory; have always been a point of contention within society. For a lot of people it’s a healthy way to co-exist, viewed as an honest route to successful longevity providing there are clear channels of communication, but what happens when those channels breakdown? Kevin Elyot’s debut play Coming Clean forces us to confront this very notion. Tony and Greg have had a successful open relationship for five years, as long as they don’t sleep with the same person more than once, they’re golden. However, unbeknownst to them their employment of the young puppyish Robert as their cleaner is about to send their world out of orbit.

Presented at the intimate Turbine Theatre, on a beautifully detailed and functional living room set by David Shields, Andrew Beckett has directed a natural and engaging production of Coming Clean. Beckett is at his best when he allows his actors the autonomy over their impulses, framing it in his vision, but allowing movement and stasis to engage symbiotically which makes for an effective foundation for this kitchen sink drama to unfold.

Yannick Budd makes for a wonderful Tony who truly comes into his own when wrapping his tongue around Elyot’s acerbic one-liners, he excels with witty repartee which makes it all the more upsetting when he’s confronted with the gravitas of Greg’s latest infidelity showcasing the beautiful rawness of Budd’s emotional vulnerability. Alexander Hulme crafts a solid performance as stoic Greg and works well with Budd to forge the reality of a relationship five years down the line. Theo Walker’s Robert excels in distilling the comedy out of awkward moments and his relationship with Hulme’s Greg feels touchingly genuine. Sam Goodchild’s performance as William is equally side-splittingly hilarious as it is desperately harrowing. When his teeth are deep in Elyot’s deliciously crass and unbridled duologues opposite Budd’s Tony, Goodchild is king of the throw-away line, a quality he still manages to possess when emotionally unloading to heart-breaking affect after a homophobic assault towards the end of act one.

Elyot is one of the masters when it comes to writing queer theatre and presenting honest uninhibited queer characters with his most famous play My Night With Reg, last year also presented by The Turbine, being an absolute testament to that. However, with Coming Clean, for all it’s brilliantly well-written moments, you still sit here and wonder how it all happened. Greg is such an alarmingly cold character who shows nothing but dissatisfaction towards Robert before we then see them happy together, that when we fast-forward to Greg declaring to a heartbroken Tony that he still intends on seeing Robert we feel robbed of not having the scene that shows Greg and Robert succumbing to each other - to make it make sense - but maybe that’s the point? Sometimes you don’t have all the answers and as the play ends without resolution you’re forced to face the uncomfortable inevitability that in certain situations that’s merely how life is.

Coming Clean is a hilarious if not gutting glimpse into the open relationship of a couple who thought they had it figured out. A cautionary tale that if you don’t play by the rules and lead with honesty and open communication, the world you’ve built can easily crumble. However, when you do, as long as you do, it really works and before it turned south for Tony and Greg Coming Clean does show that it can. It’s just unfortunate that as refreshing as it is to watch queer lives unfold before you on stage it seems it always has to be on the theatrical fringes rather than the mainstream, why is that?…

**** Four Stars

Reviewed by Duncan Burt

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