Mark Gatiss and Jack Derges © Darren Bell

Mart Crowley's 1968 play is set at the home of Michael (Ian Hallard), a lapsed alcoholic, who is throwing a birthday party for his friend Harold (Mark Gatiss). Among the guests are the camp Emory (James Holmes), a gorgeous but dim rent boy dressed as a cowboy (Jack Derges) who is a present for Harold, Larry (Ben Mansfield) and his lover Hank (Nathan Nolan) who is in the process of getting divorced.

Everything is going swimmingly in a bitchy sort of way when Alan (John Hopkins) an old university friend of Michael's drops by. Michael describes him as straight and square and is convinced he is oblivious to Michael's homosexuality. Alan's reaction to Emory causes trouble and suggests his own inner turmoil which Michael seems determined to expose. 

Michael is a bitter drunk. The more he drinks, the more it reveals his uglier side born out of Catholic guilt and generally feeling ill at ease with himself. He takes it out on other people and sets on a destructive path determine to make everyone else feel as bad about themselves as he does. His party games certainly reveal some truths - some devastating, some reconciliatory.