MiniReview: "The Chemsex Monologues" by Patrick Cash

 

What is it?

A play by English playwright Patrick Cash, originally produced in London in 2016.

 

What’s chemsex?

I don’t really know. And there begins the problem.  

 

Well, you know what sex is, right?

I feel less solid on that all the time. But yes, I do.

 

And “chem” is chemicals, I’m guessing?

Well, drugs. After reading the play, I guess chemsex is sex with a lot of drugs.

 

Do people do that?

Yes, apparently, from what I can gather.

 

Maybe give us a hint of what this play is about, then, in terms of plot.

Like Cash’s other play that we talked about, this is a series of linked monologues. Here, the characters are mostly gay men in London who have a lot of sex, and they live in or around this world of “chemsex,” where people do a lot of various drugs whilst having intimate encounters, sometimes in bars, sometimes in people’s homes (the latter are known as “chillouts”). And there’s also a character who is a “fag hag,” who likes being with gay men but begins to find it’s all a bit too much, what with the drugs and all.

 

Right. I must say, you don’t seem utterly captivated by this theme.

Honestly, it’s just so far removed from anything I know about that I can’t really say much. Cash is a fine writer, and I found the play interesting, but I think its target audience isn’t me or anyone I know. The play (a bit like another one we talked about recently) seems to be something of an “issue play,” shining light on a particular social problem and directing people towards sources of help. This is all good! But as a play, I didn’t really get much from this, personally. It’s very sad if this is what the gay scene has turned into, but I don’t know that it has. It seems a bit marginal to me, but apparently it isn’t (or wasn’t?) marginal in London.