Writer/Director: Philip Stokes
As we enter the Cellar space 10 minutes before the start, we see a young man in his boxer shorts standing, lying down, walking round the set heel and toe, etc. The set, by the way, fills the limited space with a couple of chairs and bags full of clothes and there’s what looks suspiciously like a boarded up window. The young man slips into a flimsy top before he notices us.
He tells us his name is Daniel Valentine and he is 18. It’s Mother’s Day and he’s writing a card to her. He launches into memories, his tone decidedly camp (later on another character accuses him of being affected which rouses his fury – he is himself, he insists, nothing affected about it). He seems confident, though his exchanges with the neighbour over the street are – to say the least – a bit odd.
Daniel is wonderfully well played by the writer’s son, Jack Stokes, and his father supplies him with some great material, though one may question whether Daniel’s picture of himself at various ages actually coheres into a convincing youth. But beyond doubt Jack’s timing, his bursts of bitterness, his explosive movement are all perfect.
We pick up hints of things not being as they seem in Daniel’s narration. For instance, he is smugly satisfied with his cleanness (this is during the obsession with Jesus and “cleanliness is next to godliness”) because the girls all said the boys stank and the girls had nothing to do with him. Underlying everything is the idea that he and his mother are good people and the neighbours bad, though, as things go on, one starts to see his mother through the neighbours’ eyes.
His fixation with Jesus gives way to his obsession with Jane McDonald, seen live at Leeds Grand. His description of the theatre as a first time novice rings true, but then comes the moment of revelation: the appearance of Jane herself, celebrated in a fulsome poem by Daniel. He tells us that he is very lucky because he has encountered both Messiahs – and Jane is the greater. With his mother he goes to see Jane again and again (she almost recognises him) and, when the money runs out, his mother lies to get free tickets.
About this stage the play subtly changes gear. Previously we have had to pick up hints from Daniel’s optimistic narrative; now the dreadful truth is open. Daniel, largely to his relief, is expelled from school for arson (his class mates had ripped a Jane McDonald tee-shirt), but then – far worse than that – his mother dismantles the shrine they had created for Jane, brings a fellow drug addict to share her house and kicks Daniel out at 16. More revelations follow in a shocking finale.
Philip Stokes’ script is both witty and painful, though he seldom misses an opportunity for going over the top. Fortunately Jack Stokes can take us on a journey from camp confidences to agonised desperation – a remarkable performance!
Reviewed on 19th September 2025
