Laudably the material doesn’t shy away from this point but often struggles with his narcissism to make him empathetic.Īs Tim, Jones anchors nearly every scene in a role that demands a wide range of emotions and behavior. While Holding the Man is billed as a love story, it’s really a love story between Tim and himself. Tim is gregarious and charming only not as much as he thinks he is. It’s symptomatic of a larger problem with a play that sometimes confuses navel gazing with introspection. When they meet again, Tim and John grapple with the notion of an open relationship and an opportunity is presented to dig deep into issues of emotion and responsibility that playwright Tommy Murphy seems content to merely brush up against, likewise later when the question of who infected whom is answered but its implications go unexplored. There, he meets like-minded free thinkers and free-lovers and embarks on numerous sexual escapades.

They, of course, continue to see each other right up until the time Tim graduates and heads for the big city and NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts). The honeymoon ends when John’s father, Dick ( Cameron Daddo), finds some of their love letters and forbids them from seeing each other. It’s a kick to watch Tim and John, juiced with the electricity of young love, stumble into each other’s arms in the first half of the play in a way that nimbly counterbalances their relationship in the second half. Attending an all-boy Jesuit school he meets and falls in love with John Caleo ( Adam Yeend), to the chagrin of his best friend, Juliet ( Adrienne Smith in just one of her many inspired incarnations). But despite its undeniable spirit and charm, Holding the Man feels a bit like a conventional ’80s throwback with its well-trodden themes of coming out, identity and AIDS.Ĭompany co-founder Nate Jones plays Conigrave in various stages of life from vivacious schoolboy in the sixties to budding thespian and gay activist in the eighties. The good news is the Australian Theatre Company rises to the challenge with their inaugural production staged by Larry Moss. Tony Nominations: Oscar Isaac, Danielle Brooks, 'Ain't No Mo,' '1776' Among Snubs and Surprises

Holding the man by timothy conigrave