Be Near Me

Thursday, 22 January 2009 - Saturday, 14 March 2009
Times : 14:30 - 16:40 19:30 - 21:40

Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9LX

How Much: £29.00 (Highest Price) , £15.00 (Lowest Price)

How timely can you get? Just as Pope Benedict XVI issues a statement against homosexuality in the Catholic Church, simultaneously proving himself as dotty and out of touch as every previous incumbent and rubbing up about a quarter of his staff the wrong way, the Donmar comes out with a sharp, touching story about a priest who's been gay for thirty years. And one who thinks he fancies a young boy, at that!

David Anderton is an intelligent but thoroughly alienated Catholic priest who moves to a hostile, boring town on the Ayrshire coast, and heartily reciprocates the locals' hostility. He's been mourning a lover for decades and the only thing that interests him is the local kids, their sense of joie de vivre, their music and their E biscuits. Once he snogs one of them, he's really in hot water.

Sorry, that could be construed as a flippant  plot summary, but we just want to get the message across. This touching, jarring play by Ian McDiarmid from an Andrew O'Hagan novel, is as provocative as the best of the Donmar's stuff. Or the worst, if you're a bit Daily Mail.