Review: All The Bens
IN the run-up to the Rochdale in Rainbows November events, Touchstones hosted a performance of Ian Townsend’s All The Bens.
A 60-minute play was held that deals with contemporary issues like sexuality, loneliness, special needs and internet – and meets in a way that manages to be both funny and moving.
It is easy to see how it won a Manchester Theatre Award for Best Fringe, the Audience Favourite Show in 24:7, and the Vicky Allen Memorial Award presented by Equity.
Under the direction of James Schofield, three young actors work superbly together to bring Ian Townend’s play to life. Adam Jowett as Ben, Tom
Sidney as Al and Dean Dixon-Foster as Henry are all totally believable.
Ben is gay. Al, probably not his real name, is someone Ben hooked up with through internet chat rooms and then met up with for sex but doesn’t seem keen on exchanging details to meet up again.
Henry is Ben’s brother with an unspecified asperger’s-related learning difficulty that means he acts like a young child but is obsessed with numbers, particularly the number seven.
He grades how well his day has gone by numbers with a seven being the ultimate, hence his astonished reaction when Ben describes Al as a ‘seven and a half’.
Ben is pursuing Al, but Al insists that he isn’t gay despite what they did together, but he does share with Ben his obsession with visiting A&E at the local hospital and trying to work out what is wrong with everyone.
Al also forms a surprising bond with Henry, which ties the three of them together.
The title makes no sense at all until the final minutes of the play, a most satisfying moment.
Audience member Emma Salloway told me: “I found the acting to be of an exceptional standard, which made all three characters very believable and the play engrossing.
“The dialogue was very witty in places with many laugh out loud moments, although the underlying message was a serious one about human nature and the desire that we all have to be loved and accepted. Thoroughly enjoyable!”
Chloe Foran added: “I thought the play was very funny, but it had a serious message underneath.
“It made me think about how different people live different lives, but how we all want the same things. happy.”
It was a highly entertaining and engrossing To be evening addressing both special educational needs and LGBT+ themes.