STRANGERS IN BETWEEN BY Tommy Murphy at Golden Goose Theatre

‘This funny, tender, smart Ozzie tale of queer nurture returns to London’ ★★★

Shane, a young man from the sticks has fled his rural home in Goulburn to the gay mecca of Sydney, Australia. He wangles a job in an off-licence (or, in Ozzie lingo, a bottio) where he fluffs transactions and struggles with the rudimentaries of alcohol classification. A skittish kid, he tries hard to get by, be independent and his own man. But he’s naïve, doesn’t know where coat hangers come from, how to use a laundrette, let alone how to navigate anal sex.

In a brilliant debut performance, Alex Ansdell who plays Shane, exists in a jumpy state of acute paranoia. He believes his tiny flat is haunted, is alarmed by all the druggies and freaks in Kings Cross (Sydney’s equivalent to Soho) and is besieged by thoughts of extreme violence. As he eases out of the closet: “I’m not gay, I’m just in Sydney” he struggles in many ways.

In this 90-minute, three-hander of two 45-minute halves, two older gay men help steer Shane through this uncertain stage. Cool and confident (Will played by Matthew Mitcham, retired Olympic diver) becomes a sexual partner. Peter, a camp older man, works in HR and has a cat. He becomes more of a nurturing figure, both father and a mother to young Shane. Stephen Connery-Brown's performance transcends any notion of stereotype to become the epitome of kindness and human compassion.

Mitcham also multi-roles as Shane’s feared brother, Ben who comes looking for his runaway sibling. We, the audience, dread this appearance after learning Shane was savagely beaten by him after discovering his sexuality. But we learn Ben has his own demons and is more human than monster.

Both light and dark permeate Strangers In Between with themes of toxic masculinity, homophobia and repressed trauma alongside wise-cracking lines to keep the audience entertained. In this comedy drama about friendship and love, all the men have uneasy or absent relationships with the biological families and form surrogate bonds within the community, especially in moments of crisis and need.

Strangers In Between originally premiered in 2005 in Australia's Griffin Theatre and transferred to London in 2016, first to the Kings Head (where Adam Spreadbury-Mather also directed) and Trafalgar Studios in 2017. Now back at Camberwell’s Golden Goose, seventeen years after its first unveiling it is officially a period piece. In 2005, there was no Tinder or Grindr and terrines “a kind of meaty cake” were having a culinary moment. 

Yet despite the fashionable shifts in technology and food, the themes of growing up, growing away, growing towards and becoming, remain universal in this timeless coming-of-age and coming-out story, much deserving of a rerun. The play would have more momentum without an interval and the second half doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the cliff-hanger at the end of the first act, but this show, produced by LAMCO, is both funny, tender and smart and the vivid characters and accents continue to live in your memory long after the final bow.

REVIEW: STRANGERS IN BETWEEN BY Tommy Murphy at Golden Goose Theatre, Camberwell 19 Sept – 7 Oct 2023

https://www.goldengoosetheatre.co.uk/whatson/strangers-in-between

Cast

Matthew Mitcham (Ben/Will)

Stephen Connery-Brown (Peter)

Alex Ansdell (Shane)

Creative team includes:

Director Adam Spreadbury-Maher

Designer David Shields

Produced by LAMBCO Productions

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf