Review: THE LINE OF BEAUTY at Almeida

After university Nick (Jasper Talbot) accepts an invitation from his chum’s wealthy and politically influential parents to lodge at their palatial London home. Under their roof, he gradually becomes part of the family, whilst largely managing to keep his personal affairs private, just as the AIDS crisis begins to take grip of Thatcher’s Britain.

Alan Hollinghurst’s 2004 novel THE LINE OF BEAUTY, which won the coveted Booker Prize, has been adapted by theatre wunderkind Jack Holden and brought to the Almeida stage under the stewardship of director Michael Grandage. The gay themes which are explored throughout the piece assume a particular resonance given the hostility and bigotry experienced by most homosexuals at the time, with Thatcher and the epidemic serving to compound already negative and intolerant attitudes. Despite this backdrop, Holden’s adaptation manages to imbue the early-mid 1980s with much of the oft-overlooked energy and excitement of the period.

For anyone under 50 used to communicating in the age of smartphones and dating apps, Nick’s first hot gay date (organised through the placement of classified ads which used PO Box numbers and involved an initial exchange of letters and photographs) will seem positively prehistoric, not to mention inordinately time consuming. Nevertheless, it results in his meeting with Leo (Alistair Nwachukwu) from which blossoms an intense relationship, albeit on the down low from Leo’s churchgoing mother (Doreen Blackstock) and worldly wise sister (Francesca Amewudah-Rivers).

Meanwhile, back at Nick’s salubrious digs, head of the household Gerald (Charles Edwards) is quickly rising through the Tory ranks thanks to his connections, chief among which is the belligerent ‘Badger’ Brogan (Robert Portal) who epitomises the arrogance and entitlement of the wealthy and whose disdain for those less fortunate manifests as involuntary contempt and suspicion.

Historically, Nick clearly had the hots for his uni chum Toby (Leo Suter), and during a family holiday to the south of France, the audience is tickled to learn why when confronted by his poolside Greek god’s physique. Meanwhile, Nick has assumed a surrogate carer’s role towards Toby’s vivacious but unstable sister Cat (Ellie Bamber) who has a history of self-harming and depression, and has himself entered into a business/sexual relationship with Wani Ouradi (Arty Froushan) a handsome and uber wealthy, coke snorting friend of the family.-

Much of the playfully nuanced verbal interaction of the novel finds its way into the stage adaptation, including matters both tawdry and high brow. Some involve scenes with a Portabello Road antique seller and rent boy (both played by Matt Mella) others assume a grand aesthetic air in conversations where the distinction between baroque and rococo are made.

For all the highfalutin fluff, ultimately, this is a play which presents a spectrum of humanity — those who float through life, seemingly untouched by pain and hardship, and others who endure the ignominy of failure by association and powerlessness. Among the latter are Gerald’s women — his wife Rachel (Claudia Harrison) and assistant/mistress (Hannah Morris), who both attach themselves to a man who believes he has a god-given right to have it all without paying the consequences. When things eventually crash, it is lowly Nick who seemingly without trying, proves the play’s survivor in more ways than one. And who are we to withhold from him, our own congratulatory cheer?

THE LINE OF BEAUTY plays at Almeida Theatre until 29 November.