Love Is Blue ★★★

Confident and brash city trader Olly meets homeless and vulnerable Aaron when he asks for the cold dregs of Olly’s coffee. Something prompts Olly to make a random act of kindness as he invites Aaron back to his nearby house for a shower, after Aaron states that this is the one thing which would make him happy. The question of Olly’s motive for inviting a stranger back to his house becomes the focus as, by his own admission, this is out of character and “kind of unusual” for him being that he is a selfish person.

As they get to know each other, they both start to share their backstories and the reasons as to why Olly is alone and how Aaron has come to be living on the streets are revealed. In order to expand the narrative from just being a two hander, whilst alone Olly also confides with his late partner fashion designer Sam, with the audience becoming his manifestation. This works to give more depth and character to Olly, however it raises the question what Olly is seeing when he talks to Sam, as he makes eye contact with most of the audience throughout, making it feel unnaturalistic and slightly odd for those in his line of gaze. A single point of contact would make more sense and lend those scenes the necessary intimacy.

There are other points scattered through the script which also jar: when Aaron returns to Olly’s the following day to pick up his clean clothes and they both burst into song over a shared knowledge of a Billy Joel song. Rather than being a touching point of connection between the pair, it’s presented as a full-on musical number, complete with dance moves from Aaron, robbing the scene of any probable authenticity.

Despite the best efforts of Sam Walter as Olly and Andrew Ewart as Aaron, the story and dialogue never allow them to fully develop their characters or to draw out more emotion and intrigue. Walter has more depth to play with Olly, with glimpses behind his wide-boy persona. However Ewart, without his own method of addressing the audience, has little scope to escape the one-dimensional characterisation and ends up playing second fiddle to Olly’s story. Once revealed, Aaron’s own backstory is neither as shocking nor original as the publicity blub would suggest.

Where the show succeeds is by steering away from the idea that their story will obviously lead to a romance or just sex. This perfectly fits with the fact that neither of them are mentally at a point in their lives where they are ready for such a connection and that a potential friendship is the right course for them at present time.

There is a story to tell from a queer perspective about the balance of power between those who have money and those without and how those worlds can intersect, however Cotter’s script lacks the courage of its convictions to delve into this relevant and timely subject.