Full cast and creatives have been announced for S Asher Gelman’s Afterglow, the provocative polyamorous New York hit which gets its UK premiere next month at London’s Southwark Playhouse. Its strictly limited season runs from 5 June to 20 July 2019, with a press night on 11 June.
Josh and Alex, a married couple in an open relationship, invite Darius to share their bed one night. When a new intimate connection begins to form, all three men must come head to head with one another’s notions of love, intimacy, and commitment.
In London, Jesse Fox stars as Darius, Sean Hart as Josh and Danny Mahoney as Alex. The UK premiere production is directed by Tom O’Brien , with set and costumes by Libby Todd, lighting by David Howe, sound by David Gregory, movement by Lee Crowley, casting by Anne Vosser and general management by David Adkin Limited. It’s produced by Adam Roebuck, Aaron Quintana and Justin Coffman.
Afterglow had its world premiere in New York in 2017 in a production directed by author S Asher Gelman. The play is loosely based on Gelman’s real-life experience with his husband, who also worked on the US production. Running in a tiny 69-seat theatre, it extended multiple times through to August 2018, selling more than 23,000 seats and grossing over $1million at the box office.
This one-act, 90-minute “steamy stripped-down look at gay intimacy’ (Huffington Post) contains strong language and nudity.
Photo © Darren Bell
Cast bios
Jesse Fox (Darius) is an actor, director and co-founder of Engineer Theatre Collective. Theatre credits include: Hard Feelings (Finborough Theatre) and Missing (New Diorama) TV credits include: Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders (ITV) and Doctors (BBC). Last year his solo-show This Restless State (produced by Fuel) ran at Ovalhouse before touring nationally. His work with Engineer has been twice Offie nominated for Best Director as well as featured in The New Yorker. Other collaborations include Complicite Creative Learning and regular directing work with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Sean Hart (Josh) has appeared onstage in Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, Anthony and Cleopatra (Royal Shakespeare Company): Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (King’s Head); Heather Gardner (Birmingham Rep); Endless Poem (High Tide) and Hamlet (Young Vic); TV and Film credits include: The Good Liar; Pride and Dimensions.
Danny Mahoney (Alex) has appeared onstage as Henry Griffith/ Lead Puppeteer in White Fang (Park Theatre); U/S Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Sonia Freidman Productions); U/S Trip Wyeth in Other Desert Cities (The Old Vic); Teddy in Black Tie (Vienna’s English Theatre); Marine 1 in Fallujah (Cockpit Theatre) and Rodolpho in A View From The Bridge (Broadway Studio Theatre). Film credits include: Chris in Love Will Take Over (Salam Khan Films); Brett Cantor in Nicole & O.J. (Project O.J.); Clifford B Thornton III in Florence Foster Jenkins (Qwerty Films) and Chet in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight). TV credits include: Hephaestion in The Secret Life of Alexander the Great (History Television).
