Kind of Love: Review

The concept of ‘it’s not gay if’ has long been a foundational philosophy to humanity’s evolution. Homosexual accusations have been graffitied on toilet walls since Pompeii, and even by the New Labour nineties, being “straight until” remains as on-trend as ever.

In ‘Kind of Love’ by Stewart Campbell, teenagers across the country are still making out, making up, and making mistakes – who cares if Parliament still can’t decide on the gay age of consent?

On a lads trip to Ibiza, gay teenager Steffan (George Bellamy) is on the town with his straight best mate Typey (Tom Ryder), who is broadly okay with the gays, as long as those German ones at the karaoke bar don’t try anything. Despite his loving girlfriend Gemma (Rachel Burbridge) waiting for him at home, Typey has no problem letting his eyes and hands wander to another girl at the hotel, causing an immediate conflict when Steffan spills to Gemma back home.

Not without relationship difficulties of his own, Steffan tries to savour a fire-and-ice relationship with ‘straight’ classmate Jay (Ben Goulding), who shares a bed with Steffan, but definitely isn’t gay because sometimes they top and tail.

As the tension boils between Gemma and Typey and Steffan and Jay, pettiness and resentment twist into a web of lies and deceit between them. But when tragedy strikes on the way home from a night out, the teenagers must choose whether to leave their childhood behind them, or continue down their own dark spirals until they lose themselves completely.

‘Kind of Love’ is nostalgic in a way that only indie productions can be – and not least for the Take That and Leonardo DiCaprio posters slathered across the walls. With a purposefully minimalist set, earnest monologues, and musical scene changes, ‘Kind of Love’ feels like stepping back into GCSE Drama to the days of Bertolt Brecht and DIY props.

The script occasionally veers into slightly ham-fisted territory, with some chunks of unnatural dialogue or sing-songs (“Homophobia, it’s a disease; you can’t love who you want to love in times like these”), but much like wine and emotional maturity, many aspects of the show do improve with time: the major plot points of the second act are as gripping as they are well-planned, and there is a clear confidence shift in terms of staging decisions later on. The later fight scenes are brilliantly timed and coordinated, and a particularly abstract scene with Steffan and Jay on separate beds becomes meltingly intimate despite their distance.

Even the most wobbly scripting moments are carried fantastically by the professionalism of the cast. Even through Typey’s most frustrating moments, Tom Ryder (Waterloo Road, The Bay) brings a real charm to the role. The stubborn, ignorant, yet somehow endearing Typey is the lad everyone who has been to secondary school will recognise; full of mannish bravado, with flashes of the insecure boy beneath. Ben Goulding and George Bellamy are equally adept, and Rachel Burbridge punches above her weight in an impressive professional debut. All four share a palpable enthusiasm and talent for the stage, and are a real delight to see in action.

Tense, dramatic, and speckled with intimacy, ‘Kind of Love’ is as unapologetically teenage as it is timeless.

Kind of Love is at Hope Mill Theatre from 24 February to 1 March 2026.