When Cole Porter wrote the song Anything Goes, he hadn't a clue what was waiting down the road. Not so long ago, English playwright Andrew Alty's Something About Us would have aroused passions. Now its depiction of the language and practices (simulated, of course) of male homosexuality, hardly raises eyebrows.
It is a study of three modern gay men and their problems, physical and psychological. The first half has stolid Michael and mercurial Peter at an airport which is not what it seems. Peter has been suffering from AIDS, and their departure lounge is metaphorical.
Fantasy is abandoned in the second act, which has Michael at home with Dean, streetwise and philosophical. It transpires that he once had a romp with Peter, and the two engage in some odd funeral rites, including drugs. But the author's musings, as reflected in his characters' experiences and values, are less than emotionally or intellectually demanding.
Michael Scott's direction, and his ability to make imaginative use of the serpentine space of the RHA basement, gives such minor merit as the play possesses an added theatrical value.
Very good acting from Aidan Condron, Alan Devine and John Matthews, under the cosh of exacting intimacies, also helps to create a different sort of entertainment; but don't bring Aunt Edna.
