Looking at the text, an invaluable resource when getting to terms with Peter Gill’s play, it seems that both men are talking to their lover and there are two younger actors standing at the sides, Sam Thorpe-Spinks as Gareth who knew Alex and James Scofield as Nicholas, Colin’s lover.  Gareth and Nicholas have very little to do or say. 

The personalities of the two men emerge.  Alex decides to get married and have a family, ditching his lover to do so but he remains serially unfaithful to his wife and to the gay men he was in a relationship with.  His bisexuality is reflected when he says, “My alternate sex fantasies were Russ Tamblyn or Brigitte Bardot.”

Ian Gelder’s Colin is softer and more lovable than Alex, maybe I was affected by his loyalty but of course both men are totally believable.  Colin describes supporting a man dying from AIDS and his funeral. Alex says he was incapable of being faithful.  Their joint desire is to share a room.

The construct of the play is quite complex and hard to follow as Colin talks about the funeral of a friend while Alex’s son Andrew describes to Clare what happened to his brother Robert. The play is full of cross talk happening almost simultaneously and you would certainly benefit from reading the text to fully immerse yourself in the densely beautiful, descriptive prose.  I was wondering whether it could be a novel rather than intertwining each man’s story.