Little Lark of London

“How do people come out?”

Written by Matthew Baldwin and Thomas Hescott and directed by Richard Beecham, Outings began with a goal – to get as many “coming out” stories as possible. Since beginning the project, Baldwin and hescott have received over 100 stories, and Outings is a reading out of the answers to questions people ahve been ask, with all answers anonymised. Some answers are simple, comprising of only a sentence, while others are longer stories with a range of characters. 

Four performers sit in stools on the stage, holding scripts and performing without microphones. Sometimes they simply read out the stories of those who have come out and other times the scenes feel more like they are out of a play with dialogue and narration. Outings is performed by a different cast each night, making for a unique performance each time. On the night I attend, the cast was made up of Samuel Barnett, Ian Hallard, Jodie Jacobs and Freddie Love.

As stories vary within real life, the stories told in Outings vary from sweet moments of acceptance to tearful rejections, with some more in the middle, facing an uncertain future. In a story from the 1960s, someone tells a story of torture within a psychiatric hospital and their feelings of anger towards the modern queer movement, claiming, “We fought for everything and they forget that.” Others focus on the modern movement themselves, including the fight for lesbian rights in Nepal, where being a lesbian is seen as having a disability. There is a longer story about a teacher coming out as gay to his students which leads to some points on when to teach children about queerness and the impact of the word “gay.” There was a particularly interesting scene on how the Internet allows queer people to connect, but the dark side of these connections is illustrated through a story of rape and sexual abuse. 

Along with stories of coming out from the perspective of those performing the action, there are also stories from those who have had people come out to them, including one from someone who was witnessing their father coming out to them in the car, knowing that something big is happening because, as they say, “The car was for the big talks.” There is also a truly heartbreaking poem about a woman being married to a gay man, comparing her life to a cupboard under the stairs instead of a closet, discussing the consequences of her husband’s sexuality. One segment asks parents when they knew their children were gay, leading to some more heartfelt answers. 

It is delightful to see the dynamics between the actors, with them taking on different roles in the stories to flesh them out. The show really finds it footing during the more dramatic scenes played out by the performers, those that are either the most heartbreaking or the ones that had audience members crying with laughter. A story in which a son comes out to his mother and she holds a funeral for him in front of his eyes left the audience misty-eyed. My favourite was one in which the narrator claims that their mother ruined their coming out by being accepting, which leads to the two redoing the scene in a dramatic fashion. 

Ultimately, Outings is a beautiful celebration of queerness that reflects on the concept of “coming out” that every single queer person must face in their lives. It is wonderful to see how the four performers interpret each of the stories and, with a new cast every night, there is always something new to find within the tales. The way that each performer truly embodies the story is a marvel to watch. 

Outings ran on 7, 9, 14 and 21 June with a different cast at each performance. For more information, click here.