Sink at The Space – ‘a tempest in a toilet bowl’

Billy Ashworth as Rocky, Dominic Holmes as Crispin, Charlie Wright as Benny. Sink by Tobias Graham at The Space.

★★★★ by Ifan Llewelyn

Those few years teetering on the precipice of adulthood are some of the most explosive we live through, with some of our relationships blowing up spectacularly, our future plans just a few inches past an arm’s reach, and even how we conceive of ourselves is in constant flux. You’ve stepped off the edge of that diving board into ‘real life’ and experience a four-year-long blow of impact known as your early twenties.

Unfolding in the cramped epicentre of drama at any house party, the bathroom, we meet a group of dysfunctional housemates who are throwing one of their infamous costume parties. The story is puzzled together from non-linear scenes that bleed into each other where we learn of past infidelities, betrayals and a loss that has thrown the group into freefall. We primarily follow the story of Crispin, an out-going effeminate guy who always goes all out when it comes to choosing his costume who can’t help but fall for straight guys. He has deep-rooted, complicated feelings for his housemate Benny and struggles in maintaining their friendship. Things become increasingly complicated as Benny starts fooling around with fellow housemate Lissie, and Crispin doesn’t turn away advances from housemate Amy’s boyfriend Caleb. These youngsters can’t help but inflict pain on each other as they struggle to navigate their worlds, but they won’t realise the damage they’re doing until it’s too late.

Dominic Holmes as Crispin. Sink by Tobias Graham at The Space.

This is a production that is majorly character-led, with most of the action sparking as they scrape against each other. As the ostentatious Crispin, Dominic Holmes lands a performance that doesn’t rest on tired stereotypes that lack without authenticity, but is in fact grounded and empathetic which is a rarity in portrayals of gay men who are a little ‘extra’. His housemates are undeniably familiar, you’ve definitely attended a house party at one of these girls’ houses be she the new-age anxious pothead or the no-shit girl who’s fiercely defensive. 

A first work for Tobias Graham, the writing is glittering with droplets of aspirational wisdom, and there are a few moments that set this work apart as trying to achieve something more than a staged soap opera. Conversations around gay men and how they relate to their straight counterparts are criminally under-explored, and it’s refreshing to see an honest one put to stage. There’s a reason that gay men find hyper-masculine straight men attractive (pitched perfectly by Alexander Hackett), however problematic it might be, and there’s also a reason that those hyper-masculine men feel nauseated by other men not behaving as they should.  

Alexander Hackett as Caleb, Charlie Wright as Benny, Dominic Holmes as Crispin (right). Sink by Tobias Graham at The Space.

Though a little rough around the edges, there are interesting conversations being had throughout this play. Its hour-long runtime does have it feeling a little busy but in a cocaine-fuelled house party the night can’t help but flashes by in a few minutes. Toeing the line between profound and playful, Sink truly is a tempest in a toilet bowl. 

Sink is running until 25th of May as part of the Foreword Festival at The Space, 269 Westferry Road E14 3RS. Visit Space.org.uk for tickets.

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