Heart, a one man show written and performed by Reece Lewis, is the story of Tyler, an upbeat 24 year old gay black man navigating the challenges of the London queer scene and trying to find love. His parents are separated, and while he has an excellent relationship with his mother, he has a fractious one with his father, a homophobe who is disgusted with his son’s sexuality and embarrassed by him when in front of his football friends.
An engaging, funny and interesting play exploring life from the perspective of a young gay black man
The emotional core of the story is Tyler’s journey towards a stronger relationship with his dad. However, there are a range of other themes which bubble up and set the context in more detail. Who’s included in queer culture, how we create safe spaces and the struggle to achieve self-love all get a look in. The most moving episode for me was Tyler’s engagement with online dating in which he finds himself flattered, insulted, objectified and racially abused in quick succession as he scrolls the profiles.
It’s against this backdrop of a rather menacing dating scene that Tyler’s joyful effervescence shines. From his first bouncing entrance he’s a character defined by energy and optimism, even when the world seems determined to serve him lemons. He takes risks, he dances like no one’s watching and he shakes his tosh with gay abandon, all of which makes him a very endearing character and one with whom you feel immediate rapport.
The difficulty with this one hour play is that there are so many narrative and thematic strands and not enough time to fully explore them. Themes are lifted then dropped, ideas explored then forgotten. The main thrust of Tyler’s haphazard life is certainly there as a running thread, but it’s not enough to create a sense of overall purpose. We have a window into a character’s life but not a fully constructed narrative, as important moments are cut short or rushed through.
There’s also a challenge with some of the language, which is spliced and diced and repeated in a vaguely poetic fashion, a device that felt more confusing than helpful. It may have been an attempt to metaphorically mirror the edited version of Tyler’s life we were watching, but it ended up distancing us from the character rather than offering more insight.
There are lots of faffy costume changes which don’t really add anything to our appreciation of character or plot and just seem a fiddly distraction. But that being said there were some wonderful sound and lighting effects which added a great deal to the atmosphere and humour of the piece.
Taken as a whole, this is engaging, funny and interesting play exploring life from the woefully rare and delightfully uplifting perspective of a young gay black man motivated by confidence, joy and self-love. Lewis describes it as ‘a love letter to all gay men’. I wholeheartedly agree.
