‘Think of Smoke as anti-theatre’ opens the stage directions of Alexis Gregory’s play. Originally staged at the King’s Head Theatre and now touring the UK in collaboration with LGBTQ+ suicide and drug charity You Are Loved, it starts this journey at the cosy Omnibus Theatre.
In many ways it lives up to its claim. On an empty stage, with the house lights up, we meet Alex – portrayed by Gregory – a forty-something gay man wounded by the passing of his partner Ben two years earlier. All this grief is reignited when Alex receives an Instagram DM from ‘Ben’ and begins investigating who could be behind it. What at first appears to be a poorly timed hack later unravels into an unnerving exploration of the mental health impacts of ‘chemsex’ on the queer community.
Alex begins as an amiable guy. Gregory’s straightforward delivery makes it difficult to initially tell whether the piece has begun, or if he is simply introducing it. He is in conversation with us, moving through the audience, getting us on side. He voices to us his true feelings about Ben’s friends before replying to their messages politely. He tells us he continued to cut the grass for Ben’s mum even after his death. But the details around exactly how Ben died remain in shadow, and there is clearly a past that Alex is hiding from, or being pulled back into.
Gregory keeps us hooked throughout, forcing us to witness Alex’s ugly reality. As it becomes clear we are watching his reverse Truman Show-style paranoid episode – he films everything and believes every passer-by is involved in the hack – Smoke becomes an intentionally uncomfortable watch. An earlier review comments on the ‘unfocused’ nature of the piece, its attempt to cram too many topics into a short script. On the contrary, its messiness feels realistic and human. Alex is a multifaceted character, struggling with multiple threads of his past.
Realistic, too, is Smoke‘s conclusion. It feels a little rushed, as once Alex is aware of his paranoia some of the dramatic tension is lost. Even so, it is good to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel for him, delivered in a human but not saccharine way.
As voiced in the post-show panel chaired by You Are Loved, Gregory’s future challenge is getting his work seen beyond a queer echo chamber, to educate the wider community about an often misunderstood topic.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
