The King’s Head Theatre is a beloved jewel in the crown of London theatre, which many of us hold very dear to our hearts. The move from its decades old home (the back room of a pub) to its new custom built space has been a long time coming and highly anticipated. The opening production of the brand new theatre is Shaun McKenna and Andrew Van Sickle’s Exhibitionists, a sort of gay bedhopping farce that sounds more promising than it actually is.
It’s set in California and primarily focusses on two British and two American characters, one of which admonishes a Brit for not using the correct American terminology, which felt a bit rich given that the production had already called an elevator a lift. It’s a minor point, but one of many examples of the script not quite being as on point as it would hope to be.
Two couples are having separate private tours of a San Francisco art gallery. There’s much insecurity in both relationships; one is struggling with the concept of an open relationship, the other haunted by the ghost of ex-partners. Conor (Ashley D Gayle) and Robbie (Robert Rees) are in fact ex’s and bump into each other over a table of drinks.
Before you know it all memory of their previous toxic relationship is abandoned and they run off together, leaving their respective partners, Mal (Jake Mitchell-Jones) and Rayyan (Rolando Montecalvo) to chase them across California in the hope of salvaging their obviously fractured relationships.
It’s fairly obvious by the second scene how it’s all going to turn out in the end, so what comes in between is largely perfunctory and drawn out dialogue designed simply to take us from A to B. There is the occasional memorable one-liner, “who dressed you? The great depression” that gives us a glimpse of how good a comedy this could be, but too many of the jokes are tired cliches that struggle to land.
Exhibitionists is frustrating because the premise is really good, and Bronagh Lagan’s sharp direction makes it feel like a good old fashioned farce with a modern twist, but the problem lies in the fact that none of the characters are particularly well written, and the audience quickly loses interest in who is with who, or why.
The only exception is Sebastian (Øystein Lode), a motel owner and later sexual partner, who manages to take the best lines, and Lode’s delivery helps us savour them even more. However, the rest of the cast constantly seem to be struggling and the overacting becomes almost unbearable at points.
With a bigger stage to play with, Gregor Donnelly brings us a first rate set that uses video projections (Matt Powell) to create everything from the art installation to a Scandi motel and an Architectural Digest featured home, how glorious to see such sophisticated set design at the King’s Head!
Exhibitionists may not be the opening production we were all hoping for, but it does at least continue the theatre’s tradition of championing Queer theatre, and gives us all a chance to settle into this new space. The King’s Head Theatre has presented thousands of shows since it opened in 1970, and has produced countless stars, this new chapter has only just begun and we still have high hopes for what might come next.
Exhibitionists is at the King’s Head Theatre until 10th February 2024.
