The Pride
Alexi Kaye Campbell
WHO Oliver, mid-thirties, gay.
TO WHOM Philip, mid-thirties, his partner.
WHERE The sitting room of Oliver’s flat.
WHEN 2008.
WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED The play tells the story of two sets of characters, both with the same names, from 1958 and from 2008. In 1958, Sylvia is unhappily married to Philip. He is gay but in denial. When he meets her friend and colleague Oliver, he is unable to control his feelings of attraction. But the practice of homosexuality is illegal, and their torrid affair ends unhappily. In 2008, Oliver and Philip, both friends of Sylvia’s, have been a couple for a year and a half, but Oliver is promiscuous and Philip has ended their relationship and moved out. The speech that follows comes towards the end of the second scene in the play and is the first set in 2008. Oliver has employed the services of a male prostitute who is dressed in Nazi uniform. However, Oliver soon goes off the idea of having sex with the man, and they sit and talk instead. Oliver confesses that he is sad about his boyfriend leaving him. Philip then arrives back at the flat unexpectedly and is shocked to see the stranger. He had thought Oliver would be out and had come to pick up the last of his things. The man leaves, and Oliver tries unsuccessfully to pretend that he had met him at a fancy-dress party. Oliver tells Philip that he loves him and does not want him to leave. But Philip is depressed by Oliver’s need to have sex with other men. Oliver tries to explain to Philip that having sex with strangers takes the form of an addiction and that he cannot help it. As he tries to justify his actions, he is reminded of a conversation he overheard when he was a teenage boy.
WHAT TO CONSIDER
• | Unlike his 1958 counterpart, Oliver is free to express and practise his homosexuality. |
• | To what extent does this increased freedom bring with it a different set of responsibilities and problems? |
• | Oliver is in turmoil. He genuinely loves Philip above all other men, but has no control over his sexual urges. |
WHAT HE WANTS
• | To understand himself. |
• | To share this understanding with Philip so that Philip will forgive him. |
• | To prevent Philip from leaving. |
KEYWORDS good boy lost soul weird knowing
Oliver
There’s something I never told you. […] This thing that happened when I was young. Once, I must have been seventeen or something and I was staying at my aunt’s. My mother’s sister. The one you met. […] And this woman came by. A friend of hers. And I was on my way out. So my aunt introduced me to this woman and I said hi, how are you and all that and then ran out. But a minute later I realised I’d left something. My sweater or something. So I ran back in the house to get it and then I realised that the two women – my aunt and her friend – were talking about me. But they hadn’t heard me come back in the house. And I stood there, rooted to the spot. And listened. I couldn’t hear everything but then – then this thing happened. I heard my aunt saying something along the lines of, ‘He’s a good boy but a bit of a lost soul.’ Actually, it wasn’t along the lines of. It was her exact words. I heard them. ‘He’s a good boy but a bit of a lost soul.’ And the weird thing is – the weirdest – was that even before she said it, I kind of knew what she was going to say, like I’d heard her speak the words before, like her saying it and me knowing what she was going to say was all kind of tied up. Happening at the same time. ‘He’s a good boy but a bit of a lost soul.’ 