Male escorts, homosexuality and football:
Away From Home takes on a lot in its one hour slot, and it scores perfectly in terms of tone, performance and narrative.
Rob Ward, sole star of the show, demonstrates immense talent as he convincingly whips through the different characters needed to tell the story, each of them painted perfectly through touches of accent and gesture that allow their individuality to shine through, despite being portrayed by just one man. Bolstered by a sharp and witty script there really was nothing to fault in the way of performance or narrative. Ward as a performer and Kyle as a character were each winning in their own right, captivating from beginning to end with an abundance of personality.
The mise-en-scene was simple and direct, the main focus point a sofa that doubled up as a car, a pub interior and a hospital bed. A bar stool that somehow convincingly managed to act as one of Kyle’s clients was as funny as it was clever, and it was the subtle hints of setting that really helped create the different scenes and showcase the excellent direction by Martin Jameson.
All in all, the night was a great success in all areas, a moving and memorable story, and an important piece of theatre not to be missed by fans of football and LGBT theatre alike.
