Theatre and TV star Declan Bennett (EastEnders’ Charlie Cotton) brings his one person show, Boy Out The City, to the Lyric Theatre this April after a sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a successful week on London’s West End.
Based on his own private journals, Declan reflects on his Irish Catholic upbringing in Coventry, discovering the gay scene in Soho in the 90s, surviving the streets of New York City, and, more recently, settling down in the Oxfordshire countryside with his partner, the actor Fra Fee.
Boy Out The City is a raw autobiographical play that humorously explores toxic masculinity, homophobia and mental health. It premiered as a work in progress at the 2021 Westival Music and Arts Festival followed by a short London run at the Turbine Theatre, Battersea.
Declan says, “I’ve toured this show from London to Edinburgh, to my hometown of Coventry and my new home in Oxfordshire, so it feels really special to now bring it to my ancestral home. It’s a huge honour to be invited to the Lyric Theatre, and I cannot wait to share my story with the people of Belfast. Audiences have connected so much, more then I could’ve imagined, everyone seems to resonate with parts it; whether its growing up as a Catholic, or discovering your own sexuality, or being diagnosed with a serious illness (I had cancer when I was 23), there seems to be something for everyone.”
The play follows Declan from childhood to adulthood and after moving out of London to wait out the final months of the pandemic, Declan finds himself alone in the Oxfordshire countryside. In his isolation, he is forced to face the demons of his past on a messy journey through the turbulent world of toxic masculinity, homophobia, and men’s mental health. From the lonely aisles of Hobbycraft to the bright lights of New York city, this is the story of a man in desperate search of identity when confronted with sudden unexpected solitude.
Declan is an actor, songwriter and now an emerging playwright. He gained prominence as a member of the 1999 band Point Break before going on to perform in the West End, Broadway, and national and international tours. He has also had a plethora of television and film roles including Charlie Cotton in EastEnders and Jonathan in ITV detective drama The Long Call.
Boy Out The City will be performed by Declan from 17 to 21 April 2024 at the Naughton Studio
at The Lyric Theatre in Belfast. Tickets start from £15 can be purchased via
https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/boy-out-the-city