The Chemsex Monolgues ~ [King's Head Theatre] ~ Review

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Fifty years ago homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK, but five decades on the LGBTQ community still faces a host of challenges as a result of homophobic discrimination, leading to mental and physical health problems on a huge scale. One dangerous practice prevalent in certain pockets of LGBTQ culture in particular is still worryingly overlooked and underreported – chemsex. This is the foundation of Patrick Cash’s raw and painfully honest play The Chemsex Monologues, which started life in the King’s Head Theatre’s 2016 Queer Season and is running now through to the 9th April.

Five interlinking monologues from four characters reveal the dangerous and complex world of chemsex chillouts in a very candid and human light, exploring the complications of love, lust, and addiction and their devastating consequences. A touch of humour and some heart-breaking tragedies turn these four characters from statistics into human beings, providing a glimpse into the lives of people mixed up in the chemsex scene and the ramifications that the overuse of sex and drugs have on their hearts, minds, and bodies. For anyone who has spent any time on the LGBTQ party and clubbing scene the kinds of events described in the Chemsex Monologues are very familiar, an oversaturation of casual sexual encounters and euphoria inducing drugs like GHB, mephedrone, crystal meth, and MDMA. The situations are not exaggerated for effect, they ring true, and they spare no detail.

The Chemsex Monologues is highly energetic and painfully engaging. Denholm Spurr delights and disarms with his captivating performance as Nameless, a beautiful boy with a broken heart whose inevitable tragedy unfolds before our eyes. But it’s a standout performance from Matthew Hodson as the irresistibly likeable sexual health worker Daniel which really steals the show. His performance is both thoughtful and amusing, with a wonderful physicality and perfectly timed delivery. It’s from Daniel’s point of view we can capture a glimpse of the chemsex scene through eyes not tinted by over dilated rose coloured pupils.
Unfortunately some parts of several of the monologues are let down by pacing issues, as the high energy script runs away with the actors and important lines are lost in gabbled excitement.

At times the plot feels overstressed, Cash’s monologues tell a powerful story about the chemsex scene but that story only really has one thing to say and repeats themes a little too often. It also doesn’t seem to say anything particularly new, plays like Mark Ravenhill’s ‘Shopping and F***ing’ and ‘Mother Clap’s Molly House’ having had similar conversations in the late 90s and early 00s. But that being said it is still a vital topic and it’s important to keep returning to this discussion.

Explicit, shocking, painful, and also very humorous, The Chemsex Monologues is an insightful view into the destructive reality of some parts of LGBTQ social culture. It’s a grim reminder that even in the twenty first century society’s prejudice against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people continues to create a toxic environment which can lead to the kinds of loneliness, mental health problems, addiction, and recklessness exacerbated by hate and intolerance.


The Chemsex Monolgues ~ [King's Head Theatre] ~ Review
★★★★