The 1996 movie Beautiful Thing is many people’s favourite gay-themed film – and with good reason – but of course it started off life as a play by Jonathan Harvey, which premiered in 1993 at the Bush Theatre, London, directed by Hettie MacDonald. It even starred Philip Glenister and a very young Johnny Lee Miller. The play then went to the Donmar Warehouse, and finally the Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End (where Rhys Ifans joined the cast).
That means 2013 marks the 20th Anniversary and so a new UK tour of the play is being planned, with Coronation Street and Scott & Bailey actress Suranne Jones set to star, with Nikolai Foster directing. The tour kicks off at the Arts Theatre in London from April 13th-May 23th, before heading for Liverpool, Leeds and Brighton.
Beautiful Thing is set on the Thamesmead Estate in London, and follows the burgeoning relationship between two teenage boys as they deal with emerging gay identity against the working class backdrop of South London housing estate life. Although that might sound rather depressing, it’s renowned for its comedy and romantic tone, which not ignoring the difficulties young people face. Amazingly Harvey wrote the play when he was only 24. He’s since created the sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme and writes for Coronation Street.
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