It's been seven years since we last saw a play by Christopher Shinn in
London - he had a big hit with
Now or Later, which gave Eddie
Redmayne a career-boosting role. That play's themes of political
ambition and high-profile young gay people are also present in his new
play
Teddy Ferrara, and Shinn's return has also coaxed back
director Dominic Cooke, who's been off the radar since leaving the Royal
Court. Hildegard Bechtler's set design turns the Donmar stage into a
functional meeting room in a modern US university campus building. But
this is a space for impassioned arguments rather than coursework,
because most of the students we meet are particularly driven and
ambitious, with a high profile on campus. The central character is Gabe
(Luke Newberry,) the leader of the college's LGBTQ group. His best
friend Tim (Nathan Wiley) is the student president, and Gabe has been
persuaded to run for the post himself in his Senior year.
