Award Winning Play, VELVET, At Above The Stag Theatre
SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE 2017 #METOO MOVEMENT
Velvet explores the complex realities of harassment within the entertainment industry and how far a person is willing to go in order to achieve their dreams
Tom has always dreamt of being a successful actor, and now after years of disappointment he is finally presented with his golden opportunity… and an impossible decision.
After a critically acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe in 2018, and a highly successful UK tour earlier this year, VELVET – written by and starring Tom Ratcliffe – is the highly topical, touching and hard-hitting play which now finds a natural home at Vauxhall’s Above The Stag theatre, the UK’s only dedicated LGBT+ theatre space.
Set against the backdrop of the 2017 #MeToo movement, Velvet explores the complex realities of harassment within the entertainment industry and how far a person is willing to go in order to achieve their dreams. As the industry continues to reel from the exposure of its seedy underbelly, Tom finds this has done little to affect the choice he is presented with. He is left to decide exactly how much he’s prepared to compromise, and how far he is prepared to go in order to take this long-awaited chance to make his mark as an actor.
Combining darkly comic elements with moments of poignancy, this semi-autobiographical play looks at #MeToo from a gay male perspective; Velvet explores this from the viewpoint of an unknown young actor with little public profile, who can see no reason why the world will care about his plight. A timely and urgent work, Velvet examines how external pressures from industry peers and family can lead a person down a path they would not be expected to take and indeed would never expect themselves to take. Homing in on one young man’s story, Velvet explores not only the agony of having to decide between compromise and career, but also the danger of how the public might receive them when all is revealed.
LISTINGS
Show: Velvet
Dates: 2nd – 27th October 2019
Times: 2nd – 5th 7:45pm // 6th 6:15pm // 9th – 26th 9pm // 13th, 20th & 27th 7:30pm // no Mondays or 8th
Venue: Above The Stag theatre, 72 Albert Embankment London, SE1 7TP
