Guts

The Stage

Guts

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WORLD PREMIERE

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Management: Skint Productions

Cast: Rob Clyne, Wendy Laurence-James, John Last, James Denton, Margaret Boschi, Lisa Sharpe, Charlie Whitehouse, Phil Novak

Web: www.gutstheplay.com

Connor is a schoolboy growing up friendless with a lush of a mother who loves him but ignores him, pushing him to find solace with his grandmother. He is hiding a remarkable talent for writing poetry, a talent his gay English teacher Jez wants to reveal to the world but his good intentions soon turn to an obsession that threatens his relationship with live-in lover Mark. You know everyone’s doomed but that does not mean they are going down without a fight.

Sort of The L-Shaped Room meets Teachers meets anything by Jimmy McGovern, Karlton Parris’ slice of Mancunian life is simply packed with characters and ideas. This script shows its film origins via episodic set scenes with neat punchlines, making for snappy plotting and instant characterisation, compounded by an awesome ear for language.

A cracking cast responds with near perfection to Parris’ flowing direction. James Denton is achingly vulnerable as Connor, matched by Margaret Boschi’s dippy but astute Gran – their kitchen conversations are as funny as they are heart-rending. Rob Clyne (Jez) and John Last (Mark) keep the energy going but almost blow their crucial final scene. As Connor’s mum Eileen, Wendy Laurence-James finds savage humour even in her darkest moments.

It may be grim up north but it is certainly not boring.

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Nick Awde

Forth One 97.3

Guts

The Theatre Workshop, Hamilton Place , Stockbridge (20)

22:30

16 th August

£10 (£5)

Theatre: Drama

Bleak, dark, tragic, shocking and simply amazing. Guts pulls no punches in telling the story of a teenage boy from an inner city estate, wrestling with both his intellectual talent and his sexuality, whilst trying to deal with his alcoholic, neglectful mother. The cast display great maturity and depth of talent, and bring the characters to life. Despite being a depressing play there are moments of humour, and the script avoids any melodrama. It is a riveting and moving play and builds to a dramatic and shocking climax that will bring a tear to the eye of every member of the audience. It is shortly to be made into a film, and one that must certainly have a great future ahead of it.

Forth Verdict 10/10

ThreeWeeks www.threeweeks.co.uk

Guts

Skint Productions

With an ending that shocked and affected me deeply, I couldn't help wondering just how devastating that ending could have been, if it been reached more swiftly and less clumsily. 'Guts' details the life of a young underprivileged but gifted teenager in a series of short punchy scenes. In the main well written and excellently performed, the piece was hampered by interim blackouts, as one set of actors trouped off, and another plodded on. Every scene had to rediscover our interest, which thankfully most did, but there were seemingly superfluous sections with the characters Mark and Libby whose scenes seemed like padding, comic relief forced into the play. A haunting and touching story with a talented cast, this play could be brutally and profoundly effective if they ruthlessly edited the piece and pulled the scenes together with more speed.

Theatre Workshop, 7-16 Aug, 10:30pm (11:55pm), £10.00 (£5.00), fpp 139. twrating: 3/5 [lh]

Metro

Guts

Poetry in football

Ben East August 15, 2003

THE PREMISE OF Guts - a gay teenager in a Manchester United shirt wants to read his love sonnet to David Beckham in public - is something of an irritation.

There's contemporary and there's boringly obvious. Luckily, the rest of Guts isn't so simplistic.

Schoolboy Connor Jackson (James Denton) faces his sexuality while his teacher tries to draw out his skill for poetry. But Sir fancies him. Connor fancies Jez. Will these two kiss and will Connor read in front of class - and face the inevitable bullying?

If those scenarios don't feel quite right - the ending is certainly a shameless pull on the heartstrings - then the subtexts are more rounded. It seems like writer Karlton Parris feels on more comfortable ground here; this is Grim Up North life with all its foibles, farce and relentless struggle.

And Guts is certainly relentless. It's just the format that's wrong: the tears somehow seem less real when the actors are constantly leaving the stage with the props. Adapted from a film in production, there's enough here to suggest the film will be a success. Until Sat Aug 16, Theatre Workshop, Hamilton Place, 22:30 to 23.55, £10, £5 concs. Tel: 0131 226 5425. www.theatre-workshop.com