A Beautiful way to spend Valentine's Day

Supplied: Douglas Dollars

Beautiful Thing

Written by Jonathan Harvey
Directed by Justen Bennett
Starring Doran Werner, Maura Frunza, Amelia Duplessis, Joel Taras, Randy Brososky, and Ian Corry
Walterdale Playhouse (10322–83 Ave.)
Runs February 10–20 at 8 p.m. nightly, 2 p.m. matineé on February 14
$12–16 at www.tixonthesquare.ca

It’s not sugar-coated, and it’s coming to you just in time for Valentine’s Day. Beautiful Thing, directed by Justen Bennett, depicts a sparking love between two young men in a working-class London neighbourhood.

“It portrays this story in a very real way,” explains Bennett. “Instead of being this romantic love story where the two main characters just happen to meet in an elevator, or these goofy little happy hijinks happen, these characters are facing a real situation.”

The reality is grey apartments with lives slotted in alongside beatings and splintering families. Humour and anger vent the pressure. Regardless of the tough situation, however, the two young men discover their mutual crushes in a gradual happiness. Though Bennett avoids the elevator rom-com stereotypes, he notes the importance of portraying a gay love story. When the play was written in the early '90s, the idea was new.

“As a gay man, all Harvey [the playwright] was seeing in media were representations of his culture with stories of oppression, of hatred, of self-loathing,” says Bennett. “Beautiful Thing was one of the first big plays to actually show two male characters falling in love, and not have a whole bunch of horrible [...] deaths and agony around it. At the time, it was very edgy.”

For Bennett, the play is now less about edge and more about story. Asserting the equality of different love stories amounts to a political act for some, but Bennett is approaching the play by advocating for it in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, rather than from the soapbox.

“Regardless of the fact that this play wasn’t chosen for a political message — it doesn’t really have a political message, it’s not pushing an agenda by any means, it’s just telling a story — some people will put the agenda on top of the play [...] The very idea of seeing anything about homosexuality will be an issue for them, and will be political. [But] for a lot of people, it’s not going to be political. It’s just going to be a story. It wasn’t based on, ‘Oh, well, we need to get some more gay presence out here.’ It had nothing to do with that [...] We’ve got Valentine’s Day coming up, so if you want a nice way to spend Valentine’s Day, it’s a great love story.”

The apolitical nature of the play comes in part from its small scale. Beautiful Thing doesn’t depict rallies or speeches, and the hardscrabble lives of the characters remain. Despite the happiness of the two characters, not much happens. Bennett doesn’t shy away from the realities, but sees them as proving the value of the plot.

“Things don’t change a whole lot. The world doesn’t shift. They’re still going to make fun of each other, they’re still going to be rough with each other, but in small ways, they’ve changed — they’ve become more accepting, they’ve become more aware of themselves [...] One of the great messages from the play is that, because they’re in this rough situation, it presents a spark of hope,” Bennett says.

“It’s evolved from this risk-taking story to a love story. At this point, to me — and to most people, I think, in North America — it’s simply a love story, regardless of who’s involved.”