Beautiful Thing

Written by Jonathan Harvey

Director Elinor Lower
Sound Designer Jack Orozco Morrison
Lighting Designer Nicola Crawford
Set & Costume Design Gi Vasey
Stage Manager Benedict Jones

Intimacy Director Lex Kaby

Producer Joe Spurgeon

Performed by Bristol School of Acting’s graduating Stage and Screen degree students.

South East London, 1993.

Section 28’s in the schools and the HIV/AIDS crisis has gripped the media, but in three flats on the  Thamesmead Estate, something small and beautiful is beginning to grow…

Teenagers Ste and Jamie have both got trouble – one at home, one at school; Leah, a hotpot of sass and backchat next door, waits out her school exclusion, a ball of frustrated potential; and Jamie’s sharp-tongued single mum, Sandra, strives for a better life whilst her latest lover, Tony, watches on wearing her spare dressing gown.

Over sunny afternoons and late nights set against the distant glimmer of Canary Wharf, we watch these five lives entangle and collide, spinning closer and closer.

Directed by Elinor Lower, Jonathan Harvey’s much-cherished portrayal of first love celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023 and remains as full of heart, soul, generosity and optimism as ever.