Forever 27 (The Old Courtroom, Brighton)

Forever 27 takes its title from Joe Guse’s psychological profile of Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, all of whom have one thing in common, their premature death at the age of just 27. Amy Winehouse is, tragically, another name that has been added to the list since the publication of that book.

This version of Forever 27 is a one-man play, written by Sarah Evans, produced by Post Script Productions and starring Patrick Seymour as Mark, a young man for whom life is rapidly becoming overtaken by the motto, “live fast and die young”

In this incredibly dark comedy Mark, a gay temp worker from Essex who is not really close to anyone, falls for Nathan, a guy that he sees on a train. The two get close and Mark attempts to develop a serious relationship, but that is not what Nathan has in mind. For him, the relationship is much more of a casual thing.

His life has already been affected by tragedy and heartache as his father has prematurely passed away. He now only listens to his mother on the answering machine, so as to avoid any awkward conversations and, mostly, he really loves to party.

Mark is aware of this exclusive and tragic “club” of young celebrities, for whom life has been cut short, and he makes the decision that he also wants to join this exclusive club but he wants to be remembered and, up to now, there is very little in his life that merits remembering.

The journey through the life of this extraordinary character, who has never really come to terms with living a gay life in a straight world, is as sad as it is funny and Seymour portrays the character extremely well.

Overall the performance was very enjoyable but with such a small turnout to see the play, there was very little in the way of atmosphere to help it along.