
A triumphant revival.Boyz
Frank, funny & occasionally ferocious entertainment. An excellent transfer.My Theatre Mates
The four-strong cast deserves a huge ovation.Bent Magazine
Four quality performances.Whatsonstage
Lee Knight is outstanding as Tony.The Guardian
Adam Spreadbury-Maher's revival...is respectful of the play's early Eighties atmosphere, yet makes it clear that this more than a period piece.Evening Standard
Adam Spreadbury-Maher’s authentically crafted production.Theatre Weekly
A gem of a production.Queer Guru
A frank and penetrating play played with longing and feeling.London Theatre
There is much to enjoy in this production of Coming Clean. Expert direction and impressive acting throughout... Highly recommended.Gay Times
Fascinating and very funny story about relationships with superb writing and acting in a brilliant production that will enthral audiences, whatever their age, gender or sexuality.Fairy Powered
A thoroughly interesting and entertaining production. Tremendously funny at times and brutal at others.Reviews Hub
The King’s Head Theatre and Making Productions were delighted to transfer to the West End Kevin Elyot’s Coming Clean.
Adam Spreadbury-Maher directed the 35th anniversary production and the first London revival of Coming Clean, Kevin Elyot’s first play at King’s Head Theatre in 2017. The play premiered at the Bush Theatre on 3 November 1982. Coming Clean looks at the breakdown of a gay couple’s relationship and examines complex questions of fidelity and love.
The play is set in a flat in Kentish Town, north London, in 1982. Struggling writer Tony and his partner of five years, Greg, seem to have the perfect relationship. Committed and in love, they are both open to one-night stands as long as they don’t impinge on the relationship. But Tony is starting to yearn for something deeper, something more like monogamy. When he finds out that Greg has been having a full-blown affair with their cleaner, Robert, their differing attitudes towards love and commitment become clear.
In his foreword to Kevin Elyot: Four Plays (Nick Hern Books, 2004), Elyot writes, “From 1976 to 1984 I’d acted in several productions at the Bush Theatre, and Simon Stokes, one of the artistic directors, had casually suggested I try my hand at a play. I presented them with a script entitled Cosy, which was passed on to their literary manager Sebastian Born. He responded favourably and, largely through his support, it finally opened on 3 November 1982 under the [new] title Coming Clean.”
Written 12 years before his most famous play, My Night With Reg, Coming Clean won Elyot the Samuel Beckett Award for writers showing particular promise in the field of the performing arts.
Theatre critic Michael Coveney wrote of Elyot in his obituary for The Guardian in 2014, “In writing about the human heart and the art of living… Elyot transcended categorisation and produced a small body of stage plays that will reward revival, and not just as period pieces.” Coveney goes on to describe Coming Clean as “an elegiac play about sexual relationships at a time when Aids was still a barely credible rumour in Britain, but there was a sense of foreboding in the final scene.”
Press★★★★★ Stage Review
★★★★★ Art Drop
★★★★★ Remote Goat
★★★★★ The Gay UK
★★★★ The Independant
★★★★ The Times
★★★★ Theatre Cat
★★★★ Broadway World
★★★★ The Upcoming
★★★★ Female Arts
★★★★ The Spy In The Stalls
★★★★ British Theatre
★★★★ Everything Theatre
★★★★ London Theatre 1
★★★★ Pocket Sized Theatre
★★★★ Live Theatre UK
ByKevin Elyot
CastTony - Lee Knight
Greg - Stanton Cambridge-Plummer
William – Elliot Hadley
Robert – Tom Lambert
Creative TeamDirector - Adam Spreadbury-Maher
Designer - Amanda Mascarenhas
Lighting Designer - Nic Farmam
Sound Designer - Yvonne Gilbert
Creative Direction - FORMAT.LDN
VenueTrafalgar Studios 2Year2019