It’s a tricky line to tread between repressed artistic soul and dirty old man pulling his todger but Gelder nails it, recalling a manhood of yesteryear – shaped by wartime experience, homosexuality’s illegality, a different code from a different time – and breathing a lyrical lived-in grace to the script as he banters with his houseguests or recalls love affairs of his past. He’s shaken from this rhythm by the raw masculinity of Will Austin’s ram-rod straight Boone, first seen hosed with sweat from using his tool in the garden (reports it was a chopper remains unconfirmed) and relentlessly subjected to Whale’s lascivious gaze and ultimately his devious plotting.
As such, it’s not the strongest role for Austin to wield his sword against, lumbered with awkward lines about the discomfort of being the subject of the male gaze whilst having essentially been employed for the very same reason. Joey Phillips fares better as a flirtatious fan and a younger Whale and Lachele Carl is drily effective as Maria. Given how much time is spent whipping clothes off, there’s something mildly ironic about there being a named costume designer in Jason Denvir and that sparseness also extends to his set design with empty frames standing in for doors with nary a knob or a knocker to be seen, in turn allowing shafts of Mike Robertson’s lighting to illuminate the action beautifully, whether watching the leg of a trouser snake onto the floor during a lewder moment or a plate of uneaten sausage sandwiches (or were they cucumber?)
John Chamber’s sound design is subtly done, no Wang Chung tracks here, but the projection work from Louise Rhoades-Brown sits awkwardly though – rarely integrated into the production well and certainly over-used in a final scene that ends up feeling way too much like a Bel Ami trailer and makes the mistake of first denying Gelder’s voice for a voiceover and then pulling him off-stage altogether – especially given how moving the scene before is, watching him use the pen is heartbreaking. But for the vast majority of the evening when Gelder is front and centre, it is a mesmerising watch – recommended without a prick of conscience.