Robert Rees and Ashley D Gayle. Photo by Geraint Lewis

Exhibitionists by Shaun McKenna & Andrew Van Sickle – King’s Head Theatre, London

Exhibitionists was intended by its two writers, Shaun McKenna and Andrew van Sickle, to be a comedy in the vein of mid-20^th century screwball capers, but concerned entirely with gay relationships. It revolves around five characters: two couples and a sexy, impossibly Norwegian hotel owner and chef. The latter, played by Øystein Lode, mostly provides straight-man – although not in every sense – comic relief. The two couples both combined an older and younger man. Conor (Ashley D Gayle) and Mal (Jake Mitchell-Jones), Robbie (Robert Rees) and Rayyan (Rolando Montecalvo). Visiting a gallery opening, they run into one another and Conor’s history with Robbie is revealed. Confusion ensues as couples fall apart and reform, while chasing each other around San Francisco.

The concept is promising, and there is both comic mileage and social innovation to be mined from presenting queer men in a stage setting where they are not expected. However, Exhibitionist does not deliver on this promise. The writing is not strong enough to convince the audience that either the characters or the setting are for real. Comedy only works if we believe there is jeopardy, but McKenna and van Sickle’s characters are simply walking clichés – devoted couple who can’t leave other men alone, twink, straight guy who’s discovered he’s gay, Norwegian – and nothing else. The cast work hard, but with dialogue including the line ‘Denial is a river in Egypt’, they are short of material. The art world setting at the start of the play is entirely unconvincing, with people talking about ‘video art’ as though it was a new and controversial thing. Likewise the hotel setting later on, with an unlikely room service menu that keeps getting in the way of the action and creates confusion rather than satire. Lacking a script to provide the motor, director Bronagh Lagan has too little to work with to generate a convincing farce.

Ulimately, Exhibitionists is most disappointing because it is very old-fashioned indeed. This kind of by-the-numbers stage farce died with the dodo, so it is baffling to see it resurrected in a queer context, as though that raise it from the dead.