Moth and Dog Are Dying to Get Out @ Pleasance Dome

Two boys meet in detention, and ostensibly, they’re dying to get out. Yet there’s a pull that’s keeping them there, a mutual interest evident in their desperation to hide it. Moth (Ben Philips) is played with subtlety and confidence, and his semblance of indifference and claims of hyper-masculine behaviour make him alluring to the more sheepish Dog (Dylan Swain). Swain plays Dog with doe-eyed curiosity, and his impressionable nature establishes a dynamic the audience can invest in. Grappling with their sexuality beneath the suffocating cloud of the manosphere, Abigail Harper and Aidan Monks’ direction supplies high energy and tight timing to the performances.

The show employs inventive stylistic choices, which at their best find a unique overlap between familiarity and surrealism. There are, however, times in which these choices feel somewhat congested; spoken stage descriptions and a few too many blackouts hinder the development of the show’s plot, and a slideshow of muscled men in the background feels a bit on the nose. With the setting flickering between detention, isolated lockdown bedrooms and an illegal rave, some of the show’s turning points don’t land with quite as much gravity as they could.

Nonetheless, Monks’ new play knows what it’s exploring, and does so with conviction. It asks how boys find themselves – let alone one another – when love is processed online, and vulnerability gets confused for weakness. With a few choices to offer more breathing room for plot and scene development, this show has the potential to offer both a touching tribute and an important warning.

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Moth and Dog Are Dying to Get Out, Pleasance Dome (10 Dome), until 31 Aug (not 17, 25), 1.20pm, £13-15.50