By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Friday 8 May and runs through 10 May 2026 RUNTIME: 60 minutes (interval)

It’s a tale as old as time but young gay love story Homo is the anti-Heartstopper.

• Read on for reasons including how Homo gives us neither the easy answer or ties up all of its very many loose ends

Britney Spears’ Toxic, Gimme More and Baby One More Time appear variously throughout this 2-hander written by and starring Ned Blackburn (pictured above and below left) about 18-year-old Johnny in his final year at an all-boys boarding school who’s having great sex with rugby golden boy Harry played by Harvey Weed (pictured above and below right).

Its set-up turns on its head the coming of age trope about the gay student agonising over risking losing everything by professing their love for their 1st crush in the hormonal firework factory that is school.

Blackburn’s Johnny may be quietly sashaying through education almost completely under the radar of his headteacher but his meet-cute involves bullying and being spied on in silence in the early morning showers he takes to avoid the ridicule of those he could share with his classmates.

Blackburn breaks the 4th wall, Fleabag-style, throughout Homo and we learn that while the sex with Harry is great, Johnny is experimenting with Grindr and not looking to settle down just yet.

In fact he’s so comfortable in his skin it’s only when his Britney Spears ringtone mistakenly goes off in church that he’s hauled before the headteacher who accuses him of being boring because he’s failed to face any disciplinary issues throughout his boarding school life.

Weed plays multiple roles, many of them adult teachers or hooded Grindr fodder, and does a remarkable job of giving each their own distinct character despite the limited airtime offered them.

Blackburn’s Johnny is as compelling as you would imagine the author of such a piece to be and it’s when a sub-plot of the older, only out gay pupil at the school who went missing on the night of his final performance in the starring role of musical Oliver!, that the plot starts to take a more interesting and dramatic turn.

Why did the older gay student go missing? Was Harry involved? And what does that mean for the future of his and Johnny’s relationship? And is it even a relationship or are they just fuck buddies?

Homo gives us neither the easy answer or ties up all of its very many loose ends but it does present a very funny and original 60 minutes but also a warning that a tale as old as time may not necessarily be a predictable 1.

Growing up gay then isn’t necessarily what it used to be, it’s fraught with both new excitement and fresh danger and Ned Blackburn is an up-and-coming writer whose work you’d do well to watch out for in future.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Riverside Studios, Hammersmith. Also by Matthew Hind, Meg Bowron, Lizzie Hawke, Josh Stainer Tickets and on tour
• Have you seen a Riverside Studios show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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