It’s been quite a busy few years for actor Joe Locke – of course LGBTQ+ Netflix series Heartstopper has been a runaway success, and Joe has subsequently landed a role in hit Disney/MCU series Agatha All Along. Last year he made his Broadway debut in Sweeney Todd, and 2025 sees Joe’s professional West End stage debut in Clarkston, a new play by Samuel D Hunter, who is perhaps best known for writing the play The Whale – from which the Oscar-winning film was adapted.
Joe plays the role of Jake, a CostCo employee in a small American town out west. We also meet Chris, played by Ruaridh Mollica, who is one of Jake’s colleagues, as well as Chris’ mom Trisha played by Sophie Melville. We discover early on that each character is battling their own demons: Jake has Huntington’s disease which means he’ll never reach old age, and is wrestling with how he should spend his remaining ‘good’ years: Chris doesn’t have a great relationship with his family and is also clearly struggling with some internalised homophobia: while Trisha has been battling addiction for many years.
The overall tone of the play is pretty much relentlessly bleak – if you were after some lighthearted easy viewing, you’ve come to the wrong place. Our trio of characters all have numerous flaws; we see bad decisions happening in realtime, creating unpleasant tensions that are difficult to watch; and we see some quite cruel and manipulative power plays being deployed. Clarkston certainly isn’t a play that shies away from life’s difficulties.
It’s a play that touches on some interesting issues, ones that will no doubt resonate with LGBTQ+ audiences. In particular we see our characters grappling with the idea of being openly gay in a small conservative town; we also witness difficulties with opening up to vulnerability in the knowledge that it could result in being hurt. All three characters seem to be searching for some sort of meaning and purpose for their lives.
Yet something about Clarkston doesn’t quite land as it should. There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between what’s happening and how the audience is responding – we didn’t particularly buy into these characters and their stories. What was happening on stage was incredibly sad, yet we rarely felt moved by it. Everything just seems a bit too overly explained – the dialogue all feels a bit obvious. There’s also not a lot else happening besides the dialogue – it’s a very static production. The set doesn’t really change, with different spaces created through lighting and sound.
We didn’t dislike Clarkston – it’s a perfectly watchable 90 minutes of theatre – but we didn’t particularly feel moved by it either. It does shine a spotlight on some interesting LGBTQ+ conversations, which we’re always keen to see at major theatres, but beyond that there’s not a huge amount to recommend.
GAY TIMES gives Clarkston – 3/5
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