BrumHour was invited to Jock Night by The Old Joint Stock.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
Jock Night at The Old Joint Stock
Written and Directed by Adam Zane
This adult play features scenes of a sexual nature.
Set in an Mancunian apartment bedroom on the night of four club nights in the latter half of 2018, Jock Night explores the interwoven lives of five men feeling the effects of the rougher and darker edges of Manchester gay club, sex and recreational drugs scene.
Russ (Sam Blackhurst) loves his friend Kam (Sam Goodchild) they get 19-year old AJ (Levi Payne) for a threesome when their friend Ben (Adam Waddington) introduces AJ to chemicals used by some gay men during sex. Russ, at the same time lusts after porn actor Simon aka Hunter (Daniel Waterhouse) who Ben starts to date, but Simon is addicted to the chemicals and casual drugs and its become an issue for him.
Adam Zane’s thoughtful script is full of warm humour with laugh out loud moments and manages to balance serious drama with one liners about LGBT culture and particularly that of Manchester. These characters seem very real to me and I have known people who act and behave like them in my past. (I used to live in Manchester in the Noughties.)
Jock Night is an honest, stark and direct exploration of this culture and made me smile through out at how familiar it was for a lifestyle that many people explore. I related mostly to Adam Waddington’s Ben, feeling older around a younger group. Realising that things need to be explained because you feel like the only adult in a group of other adults, and that somehow you are the one doing it! The three twentysomethings feel fleshed out too leaving the teenager AJ as the kid who doesn’t know anything about anything other than Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Youtube. Ben has had to fight for his rights and with current conversation being about LGBT+ education it is important to continue to share stories about the history of the community.
Apart from showing lots of butt cheeks there isn’t any more nudity than you’d expect on a beach or in a swimming pool. The actors spend the majority of their time in jockstraps and shoulder harnesses and sat standing or laying down on Ikea furniture and soft furnishings
This isn’t a play aimed at a general mainstream audience, and its references and subculture tones make it specific to the headonist culture of the gay scene in many cities across the UK.
We aren’t just addicted to, drink. drugs and sex in 2019 we also have the addiction of social media, getting likes, knowing how many people have seen our content and being slightly obsessive over it was something I’m very aware of as someone who creates social media content.
Jock Night is at The Old Joint Stock until 27th April but tickets are now SOLD OUT. Find out more here:. oldjointstock.co.uk/whats-on/jock-night
This isn’t a sponsored post.
When not writing about theatre for BrumHour, or producing Interval Theatre for Brum Radio (Tuesdays 3pm) brumradio.com/intervaltheatre, Dave Massey can be found eating crisps and claiming to be at the gym. And tweeting about Birmingham for #BrumHour
