Proud at the King’s Head Theatre

credit Toby Mather

After his Pentecostal mother dies, Roland is liberated to live openly as a gay man. He relocates from Brixton to Walthamstow, where he unexpectedly falls for Amir, a much younger refugee with a war-torn past. Their magnetic connection is tested, however, by Amir’s PTSD, his inability to identify as gay and Roland’s strained relationship with his teenage son, Gary. What binds these characters together is the desire to know and understand one another as they struggle to come to terms with their own identities.

Proud at the King’s Head Theatre is a play that tackles, male relationships, masculine identities and trauma.

It’s a show where the writing takes some warming into, the first 15 minutes or so felt dry and the dialogue lacked subtlety.  However, after this, there was a turning point where the charm and realism of this show began to reveal itself.  The audience is won over by the characters and can’t help but route for them for the remainder of the show.  The dance sections brought an energy to the show that really switched up the feel of the performance and helped the show move forward.

The relationship between the father and son here feels real and is an important one to see on stage.  They stick together through their ups and downs the son Gary played by Kaine Hatukai, is an audience favourite with his whity retorts and unphased teenage responses.  `

Proud is on at The Kings Head Theatre until the 12th of March, tickets start from £18.50 and can be booked directly through the Kings Head Theatre website.

Tickets for this show were gifted in exchange for a review, all words and opinions are my own