SOHO BOY Drayton Arms Theatre 24 May – 4 June 2022

 

THE JOYS AND PERILS OF MOVING TO THE GAY SCENE IN LONDON

SOHO BOY is a new musical about the joys and perils of moving to London but what about the lived experience of the cast and crew? Seven people agreed to answer a questionnaire about their own experiences, and these are shown here. 

In SOHO BOY, young and trendy Spencer leaves home and hits Soho for a whirlwind journey of ‘love, laughter, happiness … and heartbreak.’ 

 

Our 7 subjects all knew they were gay when they left home, some from an early age, others a little later (16) but some were not out to their parents when they left home (at 24). One person mentioned coming out at 17 and was “lucky to have felt loved and accepted” whilst another wrote:

 “When I left home, at 21, I was not only in the closet but was trying to deny to myself that I was in denial. I had known I was gay since I was 14 but really did not want to be, which was one of the reasons I joined the RAF where, at the time it was a major criminal offence to be gay.” 

Coming to London in the 70s, 80s, 90s, noughties, 10s and this year, the first London gay (friendly) venues they encountered included The Phoenix Artist Club, Heaven, The Queen’s Head pub in Chelsea, Club Antichrist, Electrowerks, King’s Head Theatre, Bang the nightclub and the original GAY. One subject who admits that he struggled to ‘come out’ celebrated the occasion: “I went to Balans on Old Compton Street for my first gay brunch the morning after putting my toe out of the closet”.  Another mentioned that at 21 the only role models he had were the stereotypes he had seen on TV and film: “I mostly thought that that meant I was supposed to behave like them, even though I didn’t think that that felt like me. Coming from a dancing background seemed to enforce that.” It was only a gay local pub that had really let him see that there was any range at all.  Someone else mentioned that London was a place where “he could be himself” and he went “a bit wild in an attempt to make up for lost time.”

 

Curiously, none of the group considered themselves to be trendy, often preferring to be comfortable (or “not be seen”) but others showed an interest in fashion (“I like a co-ordinated look”) which suggests that other people might perceive them akin to the ‘trendy young’ Spencer of the musical. On the other hand, another person was adamant: “Definitely not trendy.  I am old, short and horrendously fat. I wear what fits me and hope that it looks presentable.” One person mentioned they “couldn’t afford to dress well, or go out to dinners etc.” 

 

There is generally the need to earn money and Soho Boy, Spencer, works in a clothes store, busks on the streets and parties at the weekend. Our subject had varied experiences to earn a living.  Some found this wasn’t an issue, easily finding work ranging from jobs in media to using their typing skills to work for the NHS.  Others mainly took casual jobs, such as in hospitality and teaching children part-time: “I’m lucky enough to really enjoy the teaching aspect but the other jobs have been to make ends meet”.  For others it’s not always been easy, for example freelance theatre technical work means finding work through friends-of-friends, or colleagues, and doing every job that is offered.

 

Another person had a different story: “I started in London working as a naked male cleaner with my boyfriend. We also did a little bit of escort work.”  Perhaps this mirrors Spencer’s life which is filled with glamour, sex and songs but the glitter soon fades when Spencer stumbles into the darker side of the neon lights.... Our subject continues: 

“Got caught up too much in the gay scene, became addicted to alcohol and then started doing drugs and chem sex. Turned HIV+, got to the point where I couldn’t function for work so got fired. Lost my boyfriend, lost some of our mutual friends. Had to get treatment back home outside of the UK. Now back in London after rehab.” 

It’s a salutary tale which SOHO BOY will touch upon.  Spencer’s story is a modern take on a gay scene that can appear glamorous but can also be harsh and lonely. One of the phrases which is repeated by our subjects is that they feel accepted in London because nobody cares what sexuality they have.  One person did note that he’d experienced prejudice on the gay scene: “I’ve been ignored in bars while the bar person spent time chatting with younger more attractive people.”  He’s not alone, as another person objects to “the internalised homophobia from “’our own’; just because they don’t ‘act gay’, or that they do, or that it’s the ‘wrong type’ of gay. Bizarre…"

 

Loneliness too, can be an issue and this is sometimes due to working too many hours (“I started to get ill”). One person who was in London when AIDS was hitting and devastating the gay community, really suffered through loneliness.  As a result, he went through a couple of 12-Step support groups to help with his various issues. By contrast many just enjoyed being connected and feeling the London vibe (for example being in the pubs in Chelsea, Earls Court, Old Compton Street or taking part in the Pride in London parade).  One person admitted that his highlight was his “first boyfriend and falling in love properly for the first time … it didn’t last long, and my heart was quickly broke’ but it was amazing while it lasted”.

 

One person believes that “glamour comes from all and any of the drag queens I’ve seen all around London, from lip-sync battles to theatre shows, and even just out and about, they make everything look so classy, glamorous and fun.” Some were able to recount particularly glamorous times in London, such as New Year’s Eve in Heaven, and one person mentioned dancing with Diana Ross on stage at Wembley (presumably professionally). For others happiest times include opening night parties, theatre, concerts and privileges such as being on a PR companies guest lists. Theatre types!

 

A few had funny experiences to share: “The first time I went to Heaven was when it first opened after lockdown. We all had to sit at tables, but we could order McDonalds to the table. I remember finding this absolutely hilarious at the time. We still enjoyed our evening dancing in our seats with our chicken nuggets!”

 

Others noted some of the less attractive aspects, such as relying on alcohol or “seeing guys wasted, at parties like salvation, when G was the thing”.  Another focused on the dangerous aspects as he’d seen a friend getting “hooked on drugs, alcohol, chem sex then turning HIV as a result and nearly dying” and “friends being targeted and beaten up late at night as they leave gay bars and nightclubs”.  In relation to chemsex another person said he got speaking to a guy at an Earls Court club: “He told me that if I wasn’t high on drugs he couldn’t ‘use me’. So, we left it right there.”

 

One person told a story of his tragicomic experience with chemsex which contains stellar advice for being safe with drugs.  It’s shown here without any edits. (A long read, so skip this if you’d rather get to the conclusion of the feature.) 

"I had been messaging with a guy off Grindr for some time, he seemed nice enough and was happy to host. One evening I made my way over to his place in West London, he was nervous and a little shy, but he was nice enough. To break the ice, he offered me some chems which I accepted, he asked me if I slammed, l didn’t so we smoked some T instead. He asked me if I had smoked crack cocaine before (which I hadn’t) but had heard of it and was curious -it was ok, seemed a bit ghetto and I kept hearing Whitney Houston saying “Crack is Whack” over and over in my head – which made me smile.


He then offered me a shot of G (ghb) as I hadn’t yet taken any that evening I said yes and told him I wanted 1ml which he did in front of me and gave it to me mixed with some coke zero in a glass, he then did himself a shot and we sat down on the sofa.


After about 5 minutes of chatting he started nodding off and as his head would fall he would wake himself up but obviously he had taken too much G and was going into a “G Snooze” -this occurs when you break the cardinal rules to taking certain drugs, for G there are 3 rules you must follow so not to get into trouble, ghb can kill you so you need to play this game by the rules.


Rule #1 – you do not take more than you know you can handle, l always started with just 1ml (it’s better to be unaffected by the dose then have too much like my friend here because once you’re in this situation – there isn’t much you can do about it).


Rule #2 – You must wait a minimum of one hour between shots, this is the rule that is very easily broken and you get in trouble but my friends and I would always set a “G Timer” on our phones that would go off and let us know an hour had past and if we wanted to, we could do another shot, or increase the dose if the previous shot had little or no effect.


Rule #3 – do the dose yourself or watch when your host is measuring out the dose for you, being given more than a few milliliters can overdose you – at best your body shuts down into a micro coma and you sleep, you can’t stop this happening once you had OD’d and like my host who was had fallen off the sofa and was now on the floor snoring loudly. At worse you can die from an OD more often due to choking on vomit.


So here I am sitting on an opposite sofa looking at my host asleep on the floor – I had three choices, I can leave, I can rob his arse and go through his possessions and then leave or I stay and make sure he is ok and regains consciousness which normally occurs after a few hours – of course I stay and watch over him, I know that had this guy died after I had just left him, l would not be able to live with myself – so I stayed.


Just when you think your evening can’t get any worse – he suddenly wakes up, sits up and vomits all down his front and the carpet, then falls back asleep – fucking great – now the flat stinks of vomit and the man has nothing to help rid the flat of the smell, no deodorant or air freshener, nada!!


Two hours later, he wakes up, I’m sitting on the sofa glad my babysitting duties have ended, he is not going to die now he’s awake and I can get the fuck out of here! He apologies and I warn him that if I had been someone else, he could wake up to find all his stuff stolen and that he needs to be smarter when taking chems. He asked me if I wanted to stay and do more chems, I said, “you must be kidding” and left and blocked him on my app."

Reading all these stories there does seem to be a certain amount of hedonism about the gay scene in London which relates to SOHO BOY.   It is one of the few musicals/shows that recognises so many different aspects of the gay scene. Perhaps this sums it up: 

“The gay scene is very underrepresented in the media and when it is shown it is often either heavily glamourised or looked down upon. I feel like SOHO BOY addresses both the glamorous and not so glamorous sides of the London gay scene honestly and accurately.”

SUPPORT: Anyone who is suffering with addiction, can find help at London Friend the UK's oldest LGBT charity

SOHO BOY is at The Drayton Arms Theatre (153 Old Brompton Road, London, SW5) 24 May to 4 June 2022 over the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday before moving to the Edinburgh Fringe in August.

Box Office

 

Presented by LAMBCO Productions


Image: Owen Dennis will make his professional debut as Spencer.


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