Four star review of Beautiful Thing at Leeds Playhouse

This 30th anniversary revival of Jonathan Harvey’s affecting teenage gay love story, a co-production between Leeds Playhouse, Theatre Royal Stratford East and HOME Manchester, grabs hold of your heart right from the start and never lets go for its entire running time.

Set in the early 1990s in a low-rise block of flats on a south-east London council estate, it tells the story of neighbours Ste (Raphael Akuwudike) and Jamie (Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran), who go to the same school, but couldn’t be more different. Sports-mad Ste is a gifted footballer who never misses a sports lesson and wants to work at the local gym while Jamie will do anything to skip PE, is more interested in watching Cagney and Lacey re-runs on TV and is secretly a big fan of The Sound of Music.

Their tearaway friend Leah (Scarlett Rayner), who lives in the flat along the walkway, has been excluded from school, has a bit of a crush on Ste and an obsession with Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas. All three are misfits, dealing with challenges at home or school – Jamie is facing homophobic bullying from some of his peers, Ste is regularly beaten by his alcoholic father and the suggestion is that Leah is being left to her own devices with little parental support.

Jamie has on his side his formidable mother Sandra (Shvorne Marks), a hard-working single parent who loves her son fiercely and well. She hasn’t always made the best choices in boyfriends – one ex-partner was violent – but her latest beau Tony (Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge) seems like a decent sort and is well-meaning at least. Sandra is a tough cookie, speaks her mind and doesn’t hold back on her opinion of Leah, yet she is protective of Ste and aware of his domestic situation. It is when Ste stays over one night to escape the violence at home, sharing a bed with Jamie, that the two boys begin to realise their true feelings for each other.

The performances from the whole cast are all excellent – each actor creates a totally believable, authentic character. Harvey’s script is empathetic, well-observed, gritty yet romantic – all interwoven with some great comic moments and sharp one-liners. Rosie Elnile’s set design – the facade of three flats and the walkway in front of them where most of the action takes place – is simple and effective. While very much rooted in a particular time and place, thirty years on, Harvey’s play feels nostalgic yet timeless, and manages to be both specific and universal. Uplifting, moving, funny and wise, it really is a beautiful thing.

To October 28.