Interview: Bright & beautiful

Andrew Kay meets Jonathan Harvey & the company for the revival of Beautiful Thing

It’s 20 years since Jonathan Harvey’s play Beautiful Thing took the world from behind, sneaking up on a society blighted by homophobic oppression and clause 28 it painted a picture of life for gay men young and old that was breathtakingly refreshing. It spoke of love, and hope and of happy endings, when until then homosexuality was invariably painted as a desperate state which would only end in tears or worse. Jonathan Harvey went on to become one of the UK’s top playwrights and TV script writers, but it was this award winning and world shaking play that brought him to a public that goes far beyond any gay ghetto. I met with Jonathan and his director and cast to talk about the much applauded revival.

How poignant will the play be for a contemporary audience Jonathan?
“I don’t know, I hope that it’s going to be really poignant with my marketing head on. I’m just thrilled that it’s going on, when you write a play you’re lucky to get a first production, so to get a second production is brilliant, even if it is 20 years later. Actually we did it at the Royal Exchange in Manchester a couple of years ago, a lovely production. And the audience responded in the same ways that they had 18 years before.”

Was it the response that was the same or was it the same audience coming to see it 20 years on?
“Some the same but loads of young people and they responded in the same way as young people had back then. It didn’t feel that dated. I banned all productions of it for a while because I thought it was being overdone, but when the Royal Exchange asked I said yes, I grew up in Liverpool and the Royal Exchange had always been a great day out for us. I am so excited and I watched the run through this morning and the cast are fantastic.”

I’m fascinated that at a time when there was no gay equality you chose to write a play not about equality but a love story…
“It was very intentional but it was difficult to cast, very few black or Asian actors would audition and explaining to young actors in 1993 that the play was about boys who were in love was often met with bewilderment. Actors today are far more open and say ‘okay, let’s read the script’. I remember one young actor who has gone on to be quite well known, when I said the boys fell in love he said” ‘Why?’. It just didn’t enter his sphere of knowledge. Things have moved on and I am more aware of that through the casting part of the process.”

When I was coming out as a teenager I was unaware that what I was and what I was doing was illegal. Did you feel that?
“I’m 12 years younger and was born after homosexuality was decriminalized so I did grow up in a different time frame to you – but there was still a very big element of danger, then on top of that there was AIDS and the element of danger. One of the first things my mum said when I came out was that if I got AIDS she would nurse me – she is a nurse. Those were the conversations that you had to have at that time. But I did fear going to prison, perhaps if I had been caught in a public place. Tony Warren, who created Coronation Street said that in the 1960s he would walk from his house through Manchester to the Granada Studios and he would pass Strangeways [prison] and he would think ‘I’ll end up in there one day’, and he actually believed that it was bound to happen because he was gay and it was illegal.”

We have come a long way with civil partnerships etc but there is still a lack of support in education for young gay people…
“I know, I remember when I was teaching and someone in class called another kid queer and I asked him why he said it and his reply was this – ‘Because I don’t like it, Sir’, But even I wasn’t equipped to deal with that, you need training for that. It wasn’t there then, and I don’t think it’s there today.”

“We are from a generation that had to fight for things and the apathy around certain things today disheartens me”

I find it upsetting that 20 years on from your play that made it clear that homosexuals often have their first loves at the same time as heterosexuals there is still no one out there dealing with that. Do you think the gay community is complacent about that?
“Yes, we are from a generation that had to fight for things and the apathy around certain things today disheartens me. I suppose for young people they don’t remember seeing people with AIDS dying whereas we would. That shocks me. But I can understand it.”

How does the theatre persuade a young audience to part with the price of eight pints of beer to see a play?
“Is that what it is? I suppose it can be. I find that hard to answer because I don’t think anyone should have to pay that much to see theatre. I paid £50 to see The Sound Of Music and we were in the gods and all we could see were Maria’s shoes as she stood on those hills. Fifty quid to see her feet! Let me say this, they are going to have a good time, and they’re not going to get drunk or have a hangover…”

It must very exciting to be involved in this project. This play was very important to me, does it have the same poignancy for you?
“Yes, I was a 13 years old growing up in North Yorkshire in a rural community. I was listening to Suranne reading the coming out scene this morning and I can remember coming out in a restaurant in Leeds to my mum. Whether you are gay or not, this is a play about love and it has reverberations for so many people. From a personal point of view there is a strong connection but as a director there are so many other things to explore with it. It’s astonishing how well it stands up 20 years later.”

Are you keeping it set in the early ‘90s?
“Yes, absolutely, that is very important to the play, and its location.”

It was very different back then, there was more oppression certainly, and the boys in the play are quite innocent in many ways, how do you get that from young actors today?
“I was just thinking about that, that these two boys fall in love, one has to contend with abuse at home, one has to act as the father figure… There is no awareness that this love is illegal or in any way wrong, and as a statement of that love speaking for itself sticks two fingers up to any Government and prejudice and homophobes who spout hate and nonsense.”

This is what some of us lived through.
“Yes, and for the young actors this is ancient history in a way.”

[At this point an open discussion opens with the two young actors Jake Davies who plays Jamie and Danny-Boy Hatchard who plays Ste joining in. Each talking about being born after the play is set but each saying that they can relate to the content through personal experience. It’s the most compelling evidence that this work, now 20 years old, is ripe for revival and will undoubtedly go on to become a classic work in the canon of great British drama. Now open to rave West end reviews this is unmissable writing and theatre of the highest order that really should not be missed.]

Beautiful Thing, Theatre Royal, Brighton, Monday 10–Saturday 15 June, Box office: 08448 717 650, www.atgtickets.com/brighton