Shame around love and sexuality remains a stultifying and challenging part of self-acceptance, especially for gay men. I've Never Met Anyone Like You Before subtly and touchingly explores this theme through the lens of a young gay man called David, who meets the charismatic Art in a club one night. Their ensuing relationship is filled with the usual ups and downs of trust issues, establishing boundaries, fragile communication and different expectations around monogamy.
A touching and intimate slice of gay life which reminds us to love ourselves a little bit more
David Scotland as David is vulnerable and nervous, drawing immediate sympathy and warmth from us. Robert Strange as Art is sexy and seductive from the moment we first see him dancing alone in the club, confidently commanding the stage in his shorts, workman boots and skimpy vest. He is both the man and the metaphor, though the symbol is never overplayed. The two interact, cutely forming a very fast bond, but David is immediately recognisable as the weaker of the pair – more submissive and more prone to being taken advantage of.
The play is structured as a delightful series of short vignettes. It is almost like a series of diary entries, letters, phone conversations and voice notes have been cobbled together to give us the sweep of David's life with Art. Through these monologues we discover he is a man in search of love who actually needed to learn how to love himself.
The weakness in this structure is that it affords us ample insight into David's worldview but little into Art's, and so Art always feels more like the problem in the relationship than David, which rather undermines the ultimate message. But it is nonetheless a touching and intimate slice of gay life, which reminds us we all have permission to love ourselves a little bit more.
