Kind of Love: Assessment – Quays Life

The idea of ‘it’s not homosexual if’ has lengthy been a foundational philosophy to humanity’s evolution. Homosexual accusations have been graffitied on rest room partitions since Pompeii, and even by the New Labour nineties, being “straight until” stays as on-trend as ever.

In ‘Kind of Love’ by Stewart Campbell, youngsters throughout the nation are nonetheless making out, making up, and making errors – who cares if Parliament nonetheless can’t determine on the homosexual age of consent?

On a lads journey to Ibiza, homosexual teenager Steffan (George Bellamy) is in town along with his straight greatest mate Typey (Tom Ryder), who’s broadly okay with the gays, so long as these German ones on the karaoke bar don’t strive something. Despite his loving girlfriend Gemma (Rachel Burbridge) ready for him at house, Typey has no downside letting his eyes and palms wander to a different woman on the resort, inflicting an instantaneous battle when Steffan spills to Gemma again house.

Not with out relationship difficulties of his personal, Steffan tries to savour a fire-and-ice relationship with ‘straight’ classmate Jay (Ben Goulding), who shares a mattress with Steffan, however positively isn’t homosexual as a result of typically they high and tail.

As the strain boils between Gemma and Typey and Steffan and Jay, pettiness and resentment twist into an internet of lies and deceit between them. But when tragedy strikes on the way in which house from an evening out, the youngsters should select whether or not to go away their childhood behind them, or proceed down their very own darkish spirals till they lose themselves fully.

‘Kind of Love’ is nostalgic in a manner that solely indie productions will be – and never least for the Take That and Leonardo DiCaprio posters slathered throughout the partitions. With a purposefully minimalist set, earnest monologues, and musical scene modifications, ‘Kind of Love’ seems like stepping again into GCSE Drama to the times of Bertolt Brecht and DIY props.

The script sometimes veers into barely ham-fisted territory, with some chunks of unnatural dialogue or sing-songs (“Homophobia, it’s a disease; you can’t love who you want to love in times like these”), however very like wine and emotional maturity, many points of the present do enhance with time: the key plot factors of the second act are as gripping as they’re well-planned, and there’s a clear confidence shift when it comes to staging selections afterward. The later battle scenes are brilliantly timed and coordinated, and a very summary scene with Steffan and Jay on separate beds turns into meltingly intimate regardless of their distance.

Even probably the most wobbly scripting moments are carried fantastically by the professionalism of the forged. Even by Typey’s most irritating moments, Tom Ryder (Waterloo Road, The Bay) brings an actual allure to the function. The cussed, ignorant, but one way or the other endearing Typey is the lad everybody who has been to secondary college will recognise; stuffed with mannish bravado, with flashes of the insecure boy beneath. Ben Goulding and George Bellamy are equally adept, and Rachel Burbridge punches above her weight in a formidable skilled debut. All 4 share a palpable enthusiasm and expertise for the stage, and are an actual delight to see in motion.

Tense, dramatic, and speckled with intimacy, ‘Kind of Love’ is as unapologetically teenage as it’s timeless.

Kind of Love is at Hope Mill Theatre from 24 February to 1 March 2026.