Boy Out The City
Belgrade Coventry
26th March 2024
“This isn’t a show about Covid”, Declan Bennett says as he takes to the stage holding a pint of Guinness and wearing one of those horrid masks. “No, this is a show about gay shame and loneliness” he confirms, throwing a cheeky wink to his audience about to join Bennett on a cathartic journey down Memory Lane.
Written by Bennett from his own real-life experience, “Boy Out The City” explores the actor’s triggering experience during the 2020 lockdowns, and the impact the resulting emotions had on him. Trapped once again in a world cut-off from human connection, the experience took Bennett back to his youth as a gay Irish Catholic growing up in Coventry, dealing with bullies, depression and even cancer, as he travelled the path that led him to the man he is today.
‘Boy Out The City’ deals with some tough issues as Bennett recounts the highs and lows of his life, and while it’s not always an easy watch, it’s certainly a compelling one. Directed by Bennett’s close friend Nancy Sullivan, the one-man play is a gripping study of the parallels between the social lockdowns of Covid and Bennett’s own internal lockdowns of his adolescence and young adulthood, which will ring strikingly true with anyone with similar experiences. It’s an engaging hour, tonally flipping from light-hearted froth to pain-infused angst with sometimes only a heartbeat’s notice, and knowing these are Bennett’s own words from his own experience gives the piece a gritty realism and authenticity. The intimate performance space combined with some stark lighting and sound design (Alex Lewer and Max Pappenheim) can make the piece feel quite intense, as does some efficiently-claustrophobic-feeling set design (Rueben Speed).
Declan Bennett is no stranger to the stage, and is a phenomenal actor with an immense realness to him. He really does lay his soul bare here, and genuine emotion can be felt in every heartfelt line and distraught look. Clearly a natural storyteller and an impressive writer, he creates a powerful and meaningful journey, and is completely captivating throughout. In the West End, Bennett is known for his incredible vocal ability (as anyone who saw him in ‘Once’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ can attest to), and while his performance here is undeniably brilliant, musical-theatre fans who know how strong that voice is may find a small part of their brain wishing that he’d sing in this show. Perhaps Bennett wanted to try something new creatively, and is to be commended for breaking out of audience expectations and delivering something different, but it does make us wonder what a scored version of the show would look like.
The lockdowns were tough for everyone, but reliving it as a parallel to the experience of growing up with gay shame is a moving and affecting experience, sure to hit home with gay audiences and hopefully encourage empathy and support from others. Bennett’s writing and acting stay with you far longer than the 60-minutes he performs for, and if you’re able to catch the show in his home town of Coventry or the subsequent tour stops in Oxford or Belfast, it comes highly recommended. We’re sorry that Declan went through what he did, but in forming the talent that he’s become, we’re happy to see him on the other side of it.
‘Boy Out The City’ runs at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre until Thursday 28th March 2024, before going on to Oxford and Belfast in April 2024.
Performance runtime 1 hour without interval
