Charing Cross theatre, London
Paul Harvard’s debut play, about homophobia and sexual assault, shows promise and has a complex lead but lacks focus
Exploring the life of a man trying to quit the London chemsex scene, Paul Harvard’s debut play demonstrates how buried trauma can shove its tentacles into every aspect of a life, poking and probing, knocking things out of place. GHBoy is a valiant attempt to understand the long process of healing after abuse, but this overpacked play lacks a necessary intensity.
The attention is on 35-year-old Robert (Jimmy Essex) – unsettled, indecisive, struggling to give up his hard-partying days – and his younger boyfriend Sergi (Marc Bosch) – innocent, jolly, thinking he’s found the love of his life. Their relationship is framed by a story of a murderer in east London who is drugging and raping younger men he meets on Grindr. Loosely based on the real story of murderer Stephen Port, the killer keeps appearing on the news and in Robert’s nightmares.