My Night With Reg (NHB Modern Plays)

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South of the Thames, near the old Battersea Power Station, is the Turbine Theatre. It’s a lovely small intimate space with a very welcoming staff, jars of sweets on the bar, and a reputation for putting on some first-rate productions. So, I was really looking forward to my visit there for their latest show, a revival of the modern gay classic My Night With Reg. Paul Keating (Guy) -My Night With Reg – The Turbine Theatre – Photo by Mark Senior. smartgiles I loved MY NIGHT WITH REG – faultless production of a modern classic. The cast are all wonderful. Will I like it? That was probably one thing I was a little bit worried about because it’s such a different space to the Donmar; it was in that traverse, almost quite film-like [set-up]. There’s a quality to it which is very close and intimate, and now it’s about opening it up a little bit more and being caught in that almost picture frame on a classical stage. I thought it was going to be harder than it was; it’s actually been quite fun finding new ways to do things. A heartfelt soul’ … playwright and screenwriter Kevin Elyot, who died last June. Photograph: public domain

The most popular of the gay circle is Reg, who is conspicuously absent from the party. Reg has had a long-term relationship with Daniel, but Daniel himself suspects Reg of occasionally being unfaithful to him. In fact Reg seems to be sleeping with every man he can get hold of (as it seems, even with the vicar). In the course of the play, John, Benny and even his seemingly faithful companion Bernie have secret sex with Reg. They all confide in Guy. It hurts Guy most to hear that John – whom he himself fancies – is having an affair with Reg, thus betraying their mutual friend Daniel. After his fling with Reg, Benny panics because he thinks he might have contracted HIV, but he does not confess it to his partner, Bernie. In many respects, My Night With Reg is the perfect West End play: audiences will either be hysterically laughing or crying. It is a really fun evening out, and then you come home feeling deeply touched. And you can’t ask for much more than that. Hugh Bonneville This man, who was such riotously good company, had a serious side, and nothing was taken more seriously than his writing. He worked with precision, and he was playful but meticulous with the structure required to contain and then reveal the secrets kept by his characters. There were always secrets. In real life, he kept secret the fact that he was writing a part for me. I’d always wanted to be in one of Kevin’s plays, but I don’t think I banged on about it. Then, suddenly, there was this finished play called Mouth to Mouth. I played a woman called Laura, whose best friend was a writer … It was produced by the Royal Court and transferred to the West End. This was the future our young selves could never have imagined. In Benedict Andrews’ modern-set production, the sex and brutality of the relationships in Tennessee Williams’ 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play are clearer than ever. Stella (Vanessa Kirby) seems less deluded and bullied by Stanley (Ben Foster), than she is willingly and happily blinded by lust for him – and, as a result, complicit in Blanche’s fate. Set in Guy’s London flat, old friends and new gather to party through the night. This is the summer of 1985 and, for Guy and his circle, the world is about to change forever, thanks to the mounting AIDS crisis.A storm is brewing, and it threatens to spoil Guy’s plans to gather outside. This foul weather lingers, an oncoming storm, a note of pathetic fallacy for what is to come. It forces the group indoors, into close proximity, and the set never deviates from Guy’s living room, creating a sense of claustrophobia. Something dark and inevitable is coming, The cough, so subtle it’s almost imperceptible, as the piece moves towards its conclusion that could break the already battered heart of many an audience member. In a nutshell? When the tragic and the inevitable happens, revelations come to light at the post-wake gathering, and Guy must juggle the chaos of unrequited love, betrayals of friendship sworn to secrecy, loneliness, relationship breakdowns and the cruelty of consequence. The play is centred around kinship and betrayal, community and deceit, love and loyalty. The last time I saw My Night With Reg on stage there was no interval. This production does include one but I felt it could have been more evenly divided up. Whilst I appreciate the naked male body, the nudity in this play is irrelevant to the story and unnecessary – it would be great if there were a purpose to it. Last Updated on 2nd April 2020 My Night With Reg Tour- Kevin Elyot’s groundbreaking gay play will tour early this year in a vibrant new revival by Green Carnation Theatre Company.

The play serves as a "tip of the hat" to iconic musician Sir Elton John, with the names of all the characters being part of Eltoniana: Reg (Elton's birth name); Daniel, Benny, Guy (all from Elton John hit songs), John (the singer's appropriated surname, his homage to Long John Baldry), and Bernie (the Christian name of Elton's longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin). Eric may be a reference to Eric Clapton, with whom John toured in 1992. Daniel gives Guy a recipe book by a Gertrude Pinner, a reference to the town in which Elton John grew up.Me and Jonny Broadbent also had the great honour and privilege to do a reading at his funeral after that. We did a small section of the play at the Actors’ Church, which was mental because that was even before rehearsals. It was only then and hearing the eulogies and all the people who had been associated with the play or with Kevin that I saw this huge community and how important [My Night With Reg] was to them. I had this great sense of pride to be involved in it and I kept the memory of that alive, but also tried to tell the truth of the story so I didn’t get too precious with it. But I held what everyone said, all their words, close to my heart. It was very moving and lovely. He went on to write some wonderful plays. Mouth to Mouth, which he did at the Royal Court, had that same theme of yearning. Forty Winks starred Carey Mulligan in 2004. He is remembered for My Night With Reg mostly because it was his breakthrough play. It was such a surprise to everybody – this relatively unknown playwright bursting on to the scene. But there’s no question that Reg was perhaps his finest play, and it is one of my favourite things I have ever performed onstage. Because from a performer’s point of view, when it’s played right, it absolutely makes you weep with laughter and it absolutely makes you weep because of its poignancy. That pendulum swing of emotion makes it both a joy to perform and a pleasure to watch. Lindsay Duncan