Jake Brunger's critically acclaimed Four Play comes to Above the Stag Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ABOVE The Stag has announced that it will be bringing Jake Brunger’s witty and comic play, Four Play to Vauxhall this coming January.
A darkly comic looks at sex and commitment in the 21st century, it will run in Above The Stag theatre’s newly refurbished studio from January 15 to February 22, 2020.
Exploring the muddy dynamics of faithfulness and infidelity, the play questions what it takes to make a couple truly ‘compatible’.
Rafe and Pete have hit a rut. After seven-and-a-half blissfully happy years, their lack of sexual experience is driving them apart – so when they proposition mutual friend Michael to help out with their problems, knowing full well that Michael has his own partner Andrew, what naively seems like a simple solution, quickly spirals out of control.
Is it harder for couples to commit, now more than ever? Will Rafe and Pete survive the twists and turns of modern love?
Four Play also takes a refreshing and honest look at how relationships survive a digitally swamped world where conversations play out behind screens and love is displayed in a flurry of selfies. Peeling back the lid on how gay relationships work in a modern world inundated with dating and hook-up apps, Four Play finds a natural home at Above The Stag – famed for programming work that tackles these issues head on.
Four Play was first seen at the Old Vic New Voices Festival at the Old Vic Theatre in June 2015 and starred Jeremy Irvine and Richard Madden.
Jake Brunger’s debut feature film Love Sarah starring Celia Imrie, Bill Paterson and Rupert Penry-Jones is currently in post-production, due for release in 2020. His stage musical adaptation of Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ was nominated for the 2017 Evening Standard Award for Best Musical.
Four Play is directed by Matthew Iliffe, who most recently directed Lionel Bart and Alun Owen’s musical Maggie May at the Finborough Theatre, and Colleen Murphy’s new play Geography of Fire/La Furie et sa Géographie as part of Vibrant 2019 – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. Other directing credits include the European premiere of The Burnt Part Boys which was nominated for the OffWestEnd Award for Best Director and Best Musical Production (Park Theatre).
The cast includes Keeran Blessie, Ashley Byam, Marc MacKinnon and Declan Spaine.
Tickets: £25. Previews (January 15 and 16) £15. To book, visit abovethestag.org.uk/whatson/four-play/.
Times: Tuesday to Saturday at 7:45pm, Sunday at 6:15pm.
Also at Above the Stag Theatre (Main House): Peter Quilter’s The Morning After (January 22 to March 1, 2020).