Ben Whishaw has not let me down with his choice of plays, so far, and there was a lot riding on this one as it was the reason for deciding to visit New York. So when Sunday night finally came, cue much excited anticipation.
The play is written by Alexi Kaye Campbell who was an actor himself and this may sound like a slightly peculiar thing to say but it is definitely an actors play. Kaye gives the three central actors two different characters to get their teeth into, setting the story around two groups of people living 50 years apart and switching the action between the two.
In the first, 1958, setting Hugh Dancy and Andrea Riseborough play middle-class married couple Philip and Sylvia. Sylvia is working on some illustrations for a children's book written by Oliver (Ben Whishaw).
When Oliver meets Philip there is an instant attraction and a relationship of sorts ensues. It is a relationship shaped by a time when homosexuality was illegal and seen as a treatable 'affliction'. It is also a relationship that Sylvia suspects.
Jump forward to 2008 and Philip is a photographer who has just dumped his boyfriend Oliver for yet another infidelity. Sylvia is their best friend.
With a far more liberal and supposedly accepting attitude from society towards homosexuality the issues switch to the price of that sexual freedom.
Whishaw, in a radio interview, said the play is about love. And simply it is but it is also about how society's attitudes towards being gay impact and shape that love and the people in love.
It is a deep subject matter but dealt with, with bursts of lightness and laughter.
The play debuted in and is set in London, so some of the references to parts of the city may have been lost on one or two of the audience members but it wasn't noticeable and the level of applause at the end implied it was thoroughly enjoyed.
But did I applaud vigorously? Do you need to ask? Of course I did. The cast were cracking, the play was both entertaining and engaging and Mr W didn't let me down - even when I stopped him heading off up the street to sign an autograph afterwards.
Other reviews:
NY Times - Musings on gay identity
Theatremania - The question of 'nature versus nurture' gets a queer twist
Time Out New York - 'I thought I knew you'