Spy Plays, Above The Stag review ★★★★☆ by Ifan Llewelyn
Two real murders. Half a century apart. David Thame’s Spy Plays at Above The Stag Theatre promised to be an intriguing evening of queer espionage. Comprised of London/Budapest on the 1955 death of gay writer Adam de Hegedus (better known as alias Rodney Garland), and Komporant inspired by the 2015 murder of Gareth Williams, this production is an undeniably gripping queer crime thriller double-bill.
London/Budapest opens inside the luxuriously decorated flat of Adam, a towel-clad hook-up emerges from Adam’s shower whom he met moments earlier in the baths. Dressed in a silk smoking jacket, Adam sits reclined on his chaise long admiring his latest conquest. As the flamboyant writer, Guy Warren-Thomas captures that mid-century intellectual campiness that makes this short work a delight to behold. Defiant in the face of imminent danger, Warren-Thomas gives a touching portrayal of the small braveries of the gay men of the ‘50s. As his hook-up turned deadly Reg, Max Rinehart gives a developed performance that truly takes us on a journey and somehow manages to inspire sympathy for the assassin.
Directors Julie Addy and Peter Darney do good work in bringing life to this story, keeping the tension palpitating throughout. The transitions into flash-backs vignettes are smooth and swift, slipping in and out of the present giving the piece real colour. A surprise stand-out performance is given by Séan Browne who plays several characters in the first play, each one wildly different from the last. It takes a good thumb through the program to realise it was, in fact, all just one actor.
After intermission, you’re back settled in your for Kompromat. The set is stripped and made into the fashionable Pimlico flat of Tom, a GCHQ employee. Inspired by the shocking story of Gareth Williams, unceremoniously dubbed the ‘spy in a bag’ after his body was found in a red The North Face bag. This monologue-led imagining of the story of his death mostly focuses on the killer: Zac, the lost boy who’s in over his head. Though not as layered as the evening’s first half, this is an interesting piece that dares to ask how one becomes a contract killer. The performances are as alluring as they are in the first play, though a little more restrained.
Spy Plays is running at Above The Stag Theatre, Vauxhall SE1 7TP ‘til 29th March. Tickets available at QXTickets.com.
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