Review: Chemsex play Five Guys Chillin'

The sex lives of gay men have often been subject to much media attention in the past 20 years following the appearance of HIV in the 80s, but something less explored today is the chemsex craze. The trend often - but not always - involves gay men meeting up through hook-up apps such as Grindr to consume vast and varied amounts of drugs before launching themselves into an orgy. The uptake in chemsex was last year highlighted by the hard-hitting Vice documentary Chemsex, which sought to shed some light on the issues arising from the trend. At the same time the documentary became an internet sensation, Peter Darney’s Five Guys Chillin’ had its first run. The play works well to talk tough about the maze of issues facing gay men in today’s world of drug-fuelled instant hook-ups, and is set to once again to brave the North American circuit with showings in Toronto this month.

Critically acclaimed Five Guys Chillin’ has racked up showings at some high-profile venues, appearing at the SoHo playhouse in New York last September and at London’s Kings Head Theatre in November. Five Guys Chillin’ was also awarded the Brighton Fringe LGBTQ Award in May. The play was double award winner at last years’ Dublin international Gay Theatre Festival, and a sell-out at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

This dirty, intimate play is quite clearly grounded and based around a progression of how these five young men interact, for instance, in the drugs they take – It all starts off fairly innocently with a few lines of cocaine, but the more these men interact and the clearer their emotions become, the drugs get harder, crescendoing in two of the men shooting up in the background. This works well; it shows the dark side of chillouts and the chemsex craze, and it’s easy to see how the lines between young gay men enjoying sex parties and drug dependency start to blur.

The interactions of these drugged up, horny gay men is largely played out in anecdotes. What is truly special, however, is that the characters’ stories shared among these fake-drugged up actors are all real experiences. Darney used more than 50 hours of interviews with gay men about their experiences at chillouts through hookup apps like Grindr to construct the script, making the play feel real and visceral. “This one time I was at a chill...” becomes the signal that a character will dive into a memory that someone, somewhere has gone through. To begin with, they’re funny in the way you would laugh at your friend’s embarrassing sex stories at the pub. But as time goes on, the tales grow darker, and bring up some rather uncomfortable issues faced by many gay men – STIs, racism, societal pressure, and mental health, to name but a few. This technique is effective, and even the audience squirms when the terrifying topic of HIV is dropped like a bombshell. However, listening to moralising tales for up to an hour can be difficult – like being around dope-smoking friends when someone blurts out: “this one time I was so high...”. This means that even though you should be hanging on to every last word of some of the heartbreaking tales on show, you occasionally get lost in murmured tones. This formula of drugs-story-moral signaling-rinse-repeat may drag slightly, but excellent acting injects life into the play.

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"Is love dead? what has become of sex if it just about getting high?"

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The fly-on-the-wall feeling which is central to this play works well to draw you into its character’s cathartic storytelling. The cast of this play changes often, but long-standing member Elliot Hadley, playing R, shines as the hardcore, jumpy addict. His complex, poly-amourous relationship with B, played by Richard de Lisle, is symbiotic at times, but tensions shine through the cracks. Their performance clearly won over the audience quickly. These two held up the cast at times when Adi Chugh and Cesare Scarpone felt a bit flat and unsure of themselves – but this is nitpicking.

You have a bleak outlook coming out of this play, and questions rattle in your head as you digest the hour and twenty minutes of raw theatre you have just witnessed. Is love dead? What has become of sex if it just about getting high and mindlessly finding the closest chillout? The purpose of Five Guys Chillin’ is just that though. It makes you reflect on not just elements of the chemsex/chillout craze, but about relationships in this modern age which are often shallow and instantaneous. Going through the play, you can’t help but feel a part of it. If you were as relaxed as the two guys you see curled up on the sofa when you first walked in, you first walked in, you will may well be feeling a new set of emotions leaving the room.

#Fiveguyschillin #Peterdarney #Chemsex #Edinburghfringe