September 3, 2022

Told by way of a retrospective, we are introduced to "Tom" (Ernest Vernon) who has lived with his long term partner "Joe" (Charles O'Neill) since they were young. Things are starting to come to an head though with his estranged sister "Ethel" (Charlie Clark) who, with her open-minded and conciliatory son "John" (Jonathan Butler), meets him in a tea room for his birthday - but not especially willingly. The flashbacks introduce us to their young it… read the rest.

Told by way of a retrospective, we are introduced to "Tom" (Ernest Vernon) who has lived with his long term partner "Joe" (Charles O'Neill) since they were young. Things are starting to come to an head though with his estranged sister "Ethel" (Charlie Clark) who, with her open-minded and conciliatory son "John" (Jonathan Butler), meets him in a tea room for his birthday - but not especially willingly. The flashbacks introduce us to their young iterations played by Steve Salt and Jack Knight and we learn how they met, fell in love - and how she took umbrage, as was the habit back in working class England in the 1970s. Tragedy rears it's ugly head, and perhaps this offers this family a chance at reconciliation - or perhaps it will be too late? What I couldn't quite grasp here was how two relatively attractive young men turned into the two relatively unattractive old men later on...bizarre! It's overly scripted, and frankly quite cheesily sentimental at times. We also don't really quite get to grips with the substance of the family discord. It is like we are listening to one side of an album without really knowing what is on the other side. Gay people of a certain age will undoubtedly be able to empathise with the scenario here, but I am not sure this will amount to much more than a rather sad love story for anyone else. The production is adequate but the score is overused and though it does have a message reminding gay people who are young now that things were not always as open and accommodating as they once were, it's still all just a bit too flat.

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