Clarkston review: Joe Locke proves he’s bigger than Heartstopper
Clarkston play review and star rating: ★★★★★
Who better to lead a new play about the ecstatic highs and maddening pitfalls of youth than Joe Locke from Netflix’s Heartstopper, the show which basically rewrote the rule book for how Gen Z should be represented on TV. Just don’t confuse this for a star vehicle: Clarkston is surely the coolest show in the West End at the moment.
At the heart of it are two very compelling young men. Locke’s Jake is a privileged graduate from Connecticut who studied Post-Colonial Gender Studies, so pretentious-sounding it is a joke in and of itself. Then there is Ruaridh Mollica’s Chris, who lives in the deprived town of Clarkston in Washington. The two form a friendship when Jake visits to research his ancestor’s role in colonising the town.
Clarkston play: brimming with vital questions about happiness and identity
Playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s script burns with urgent questions about happiness and identity, but never feels over-wrought or didactic. Formerly of Oscar-winning play-turned-film The Whale, Hunter goes to pains to present these men as fleshed-out singular entities, rather than focusing on romantic or sexual potential. It’s gripping watching them spar over class and aspirations, Hunter’s script as often funny as it is tender and jet black.
As for Locke, he has a natural flair for the stage, delivering comedy and heartfelt moments with gravitas way beyond his bubblegum image, although a line delivered by Sophie Melville’s Trisha (more on her later) suggests the 22-year-old’s recent plea to distance himself from his twink image may be ambitious yet. “He’s so cute you could put him in your pocket.”
Jack Serio’s pacey direction is minimalist, rarely requiring physical props to tell the story, save for some cartons, shelves and boxes in the warehouse of Costco where the boys work. It leaves the story beautifully distilled by the very capable actors. In one particularly handsome scene, we go from Clarkston to the coastline, 300 miles away, with just Stacey Derosier’s epic, transportative lighting design and the widening of Locke and Mollica’s eyes. Sepia tones transport us to forests and on top of gorges.
A special note must go to Sophie Melville, who is absolutely formidable as Chris’s mother Trisha. Ferocious and overbearing in her love toward her son but in the clutches of drug addiction, like everyone on stage, she is so realistically sketched: trying her best but beset by unimaginable hardship. And yet, there is always light somewhere, and Hunter shows you how. Did I mention Mollica and Locke have amazing chemistry? Well, they do, by the bucket load. And if you’re out of the age range, don’t worry: this well-balanced questioning of what brings us all joy will reach way farther than just Gen Z.
Clarkston plays at the Traflagar Theatre until 22 November; clarkstonplay.co.uk