Staircase

“A sad gay story” was the tagline of the Holywood film based on this play. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a flop.

While Charles Dyer's two-hander is certainly a gloomy affair, it's a black comedy, not just a museum piece about the misery of men forced to hide their sexuality in 1960s London.

Charles and Harry are barbers and long-term partners whose fragile existence appears threatened by a daughter's homecoming and an impending court case. An evening of drinking and bickering lays bare the secrets they've been keeping from each other, and their grim implications.

There are few easy laughs here, despite the fact that the dialogue is packed full of bitchy put-downs worthy of Joan Rivers. Harry's maudlin monologues about the unseemliness of sex are beautifully articulated, but infused with self-loathing. His talk of others “parading their carnal propaganda” sounds like something Russell Brand might come out with – except here the tone is one of defeat, not triumph.

It's not difficult to see why this play hasn't been performed in 45 years – the pacing is peculiar and the tone bleak – but it does offer an intriguing twist and two compelling characters. Andy Arnold (Charles) and Benny Young (Harry) successfully convey the complicated intimacy between the pair, but the dialogue is not always as clear or as snappy as it needs to be.

Arnold acknowledges in the programme that directing was a team effort between co-stars, but an outside perspective may have helped make the most of a rich script.