Critically acclaimed theatre-maker Alexis Gregory presents SMOKE, a savage contemporary queer thriller that confronts taboo topics around grief, mental health and addiction in the digital age with dark humour and emotional honesty. Following a sold-out London run, the show now tours the UK in partnership with LGBTQ+ organisation You Are Loved, combining a gripping one-man performance with post-show community panels. After Alex receives a message from a boyfriend who has been dead for two years, he begins a desperate search for the truth that leads to his psychological unravelling.
Where: Omnibus Theatre
When: 21 Apr-25 Apr
Ticket link: https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/smoke-yal/
SMOKE is making a return to London and on tour following a warm reception a couple of years ago. How did you come to create the show?
I observed what was unfolding around me, or in the case of a rather relentless online hack, what was happening to me. I saw gay men dying due to drugs or suicide, with yet another social media post announcement telling me so. I saw gay men having psychotic episodes, possibly drug-related, filming and uploading them, or going live with them, on social media. I noticed how many of these episodes crossed over with classic conspiracy theories. I thought all of these themes would make a great urban queer thriller and began to explore the idea of digital ghosts and grief in the online sphere. I also decided SMOKE should be a dark comedy, too. Director Campbell X came on board before the script was written, but we were already on the same (non-existent) page. This is how SMOKE came to be.
Could you say something about your partnership with LGBTQIA+ charity You Are Loved?
I first performed the play at the new King’s Head Theatre at the end of 2024. You Are Loved is an LGBTQ+ organisation focused on community and peer-support-based LGBTQ+ suicide and drug misuse prevention. Marc, the founder of YAL, and I realised that we were highlighting and exploring the same issues in different ways. We decided to come together to reach as many people as we could across London and the UK, with a joint tour. SMOKE is contributing to the conversation via a creative route, and YAL by bringing people together and creating a safe space for further conversation. Each night, after the performance, YAL hosts a special 45-minute community panel. Marc has attached some sixty or so guest speakers across the country. No two panels will be the same. And audiences get two events with the one ticket, a performance, and a post-show insightful deep-dive on some important issues currently affecting the LGBTQ+ community.
Your play touches on issues around grief, love, acceptance, and mental health – do you think things have changed a lot for the queer community for better or worse in terms of talking about these things?
I think many in the queer community are talking about these issues more, as we are in wider society now, more than maybe we used to historically. I do think grief is still a major taboo. As is death. I think you will be very lucky if you get through life without experiencing grief. Of course, death is one of life’s only curtains for all of us. I sometimes think, with the wider perceptions of certain experiences being spoken about in society more, what is the actual reality of this? Who do we really turn to? What if someone close to us says they want to help us, but then doesn’t show up? I think these issues are complex and nuanced. In SMOKE, I try to explore issues around mental health that are not often spoken about. Alex has lost all of his friends by pushing them away, and probably his job, too. It’s a vicious cycle for Alex, and many of us.
What do you hope audiences will take away from watching SMOKE?
I hope audiences take something away…..anything….please! Theatre-makers take a risk creating work, hoping it will connect with audiences, and audiences take a risk too. They buy a ticket and take their seats ahead of a performance in good faith. As audience members, aren’t we all optimistic each time the piece starts, with an internal ‘please let the magic happen’. That magic is hard to create, though. It is reliant on so many factors. We all know it when we see it. So, back to your question, I want audiences to feel something. All my work is very visceral and raw. SMOKE probably the most out of all my plays. I don’t think anyone will leave the theatre with no response to the piece. Even if the piece doesn’t connect with them. So that is something!
What else have you been working on beyond this tour?
Well, this tour is taking up a lot of my time. I am the lead producer on the SMOKE aspect of the partnership. However, I am working on a sequel to my play Riot Act. Imaginatively called Riot Act 2. I have nearly finished the interviews with the three new real-life subjects. The show is being presented by an HIV and AIDS charity, Mulwade Foundation. We are planning something exciting with it. Look out for a Riot Act 2 announcement this year. I am also working on a biographical piece about a major British queer icon, and I have an idea for a play with a cast of about four actors, not including me this time. I’m quite looking forward to that one, to be honest.