And then there’s Eric, the naïve Brummie 18-year-old who’s just moved down to London and, whilst coping with sorting out his own sexuality, finds this group’s lifestyle bewildering and their promiscuity upsetting.

Time progresses and there is another gathering in Guy’s flat. This time it is not so cheerful as Guy, Daniel, and John, together with long term partners Bernie (Alan Turkington) and Benny (Stephen K Amos) are together following a funeral, one of many the boys have attended. The mood is sombre, and everyone seems to have a secret to share with Guy, who just wants everyone to be fed, watered and get along. A heartfelt soul’ … playwright and screenwriter Kevin Elyot, who died last June. Photograph: public domain Also like Invincible, Muswell Hill – as its title makes even more obvious – centres on middle-class Londoners, asks questions about creativity and assessing talent (here, it’s a would-be novelist rather than a would-be painter) and employs an excruciating dinner party as a jumping-off point.The glass is also an ode to the continual drinking and chain-smoking from the cast, particularly from John and Benny; a painful reminder that impulsive, Dionysian indulgence kills. Even the reserved, nicotine-free and painfully boring Bernie faces repercussions for his indulgences. It made me realise how important the play was. I met Kevin just the once in the audition room and he terrified me! I was very scared of him. He hardly said anything.

The production is co-directed and co-produced by Green Carnation Company’s two artistic directors Dan Jarvis and Dan Ellis, while award-winning young Leeds-based designer George Johnson-Leigh will bring the play’s 1980s world to life with stunning neon visual effects and an elegant, deconstructed set design.

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When I got [the script] through from my agent, Ben said ‘Okay, there are two things…’ You generally get, you know, ‘There’s stunts involved’ or ‘Are you okay to do this…’ sort of thing, and [with this] it was ‘Birmingham accent’ and ‘the character has full frontal nudity’. For some reason, the thing that fazed me more was the Birmingham accent! Going on stage naked, even though that’s a classic nightmare, wasn’t too hard. When the tragic and the inevitable happens, revelations come to light at the post-wake gathering, and Guy must juggle the chaos of unrequited love, betrayals of friendship sworn to secrecy, loneliness, relationship breakdowns and the cruelty of consequence. The play is centred around kinship and betrayal, community and deceit, love and loyalty. This modern classic, which captures the fragility of friendship, happiness and life itself, won both the 1995 Olivier and Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy, after its premiere at the Royal Court and subsequent transfer to the West End. As Guy navigates his unreciprocated love, the pair are joined by the newly Daniel (Peter Neenan), who spills all with tales of his recent sexual activities with his partner of nearly a year, the mysterious Reg, who will be attending the party that evening. The trio reminisce on their days of old, and we hear of further sexual encounters, including John and Daniel’s youthful and competitive promiscuity, in contrast to Guy, who has resorted to phone-sex with a stranger in an effort to be careful. A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.

It’s perhaps because there’d been so few plays representing gay life before My Night with Reg that it was widely regarded as a “gay play” when it first opened. Mart Crowley’s Boys in the Band had caused a stir off-Broadway in 1968, Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing had been a huge success in London in 1993 and there had also been two stridently political plays about the Aids crisis: Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. What was interesting about My Night With Reg was that it, too, dealt with Aids but, other than making the point that the disease strikes indiscriminately, it wasn’t political in the slightest; it was, and still is, a very human drama. It’s hard to understand how anyone could classify sensible and pretty Laura Jane Matthewson (played Rose) as a dog, but some of my own worst high school insecurities came screaming to the surface as I watched her plight. Whatever the Marines’ wartime heroics or sacrifices, it doesn’t excuse such callousness in my book. But Jamie Muscato’s Eddie is redeemed. The cough, so subtle it’s almost imperceptible, as the piece moves towards its conclusion that could break the already battered heart of many an audience member. In a nutshell?A veritable who’s who of British acting talent. Forthcoming Closer co-stars Rufus Sewell, Rachel Redford and Oliver Chris were taking a night off rehearsals alongside comedy favourites Miranda Hart and Sarah Hadland, stage regulars Clive Rowe and Nina Sosanya, former Corrie star Charlie Condou and Wolf Hall’s Jessica Raine. In a nutshell? Kevin leaves nothing to chance. Even now, coming to it a second time round, you end up going ‘Oh God, isn’t that funny?’ Every nuance and beat is put there for a reason. I think he knew exactly what he was doing… A lot of the humour comes from the awkwardness of a situation and I think everyone will be able to identify with that, and that’s where the laughter comes from. It’s quite quintessentially British in that sense. Me and Jonny Broadbent also had the great honour and privilege to do a reading at his funeral after that. We did a small section of the play at the Actors’ Church, which was mental because that was even before rehearsals. It was only then and hearing the eulogies and all the people who had been associated with the play or with Kevin that I saw this huge community and how important [My Night With Reg] was to them. I had this great sense of pride to be involved in it and I kept the memory of that alive, but also tried to tell the truth of the story so I didn’t get too precious with it. But I held what everyone said, all their words, close to my heart. It was very moving and lovely. Set in Guy’s London flat, old friends and new gather to party through the night. This is the summer of 1985 and, for Guy and his circle, the world is about to change forever, thanks to the mounting AIDS crisis.

It takes on a very serious subject but it’s also incredibly funny. How do you tread that line between tragedy and comedy? Last Updated on 2nd April 2020 My Night With Reg Tour- Kevin Elyot’s groundbreaking gay play will tour early this year in a vibrant new revival by Green Carnation Theatre Company. Opening in 1985 on an idyllic summer’s evening of booze and nostalgia, Kevin Elyot’s seminal piece about a group of gay friends and the titular – but never seen – Reg’s promiscuous ways sees the long overdue reunion of university friends mark the beginning of a catastrophic era that will affect all their lives.

Dogfight

The play serves as a "tip of the hat" to iconic musician Sir Elton John, with the names of all the characters being part of Eltoniana: Reg (Elton's birth name); Daniel, Benny, Guy (all from Elton John hit songs), John (the singer's appropriated surname, his homage to Long John Baldry), and Bernie (the Christian name of Elton's longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin). Eric may be a reference to Eric Clapton, with whom John toured in 1992. Daniel gives Guy a recipe book by a Gertrude Pinner, a reference to the town in which Elton John grew up. When it comes to the acting, I don’t think it can be faulted, and I’m really going to single out Paul Keating here. Of all the characters in the show, Guy is the one I most identify with. Getting on in years, single but in love with someone that doesn’t love them, being the one people talk to, a bit socially awkward, and the person everyone calls ‘nice’, Guy and I have so much in common and Keating brings all that to the stage perfectly. He is helped in this by Lee Newby’s set design which is not only realistic but is pure Guy. My Night With Reg is a nice show with a beautiful set design but I felt the themes of the show were glazed over somewhat and it was a missed opportunity to highlight an important story. Co-artistic director Dan Jarvis says: “This is the first time we’ve toured to mid-scale theatres, which is really exciting for us and part of our ethos as a theatre company. We want to be nationally-recognised for creating LGBT theatre and for taking our work across the regions so that we make sure the best gay theatre isn’t always in London. Drawing room comedy ... Edward M Corrie, Paul Keating and James Bradwell in My Night With Reg. Photograph: Mark Senior