OUT IN THE OPEN Mixed Salad Productions Star Theatres Until 04 Dec 2010 Review by Ben Aitken Rabbits crap everywhere. This warning/maxim was printed on the t-shirt of the man deployed at the BoxOffice of the Star Theatre. It is a quote from the play. I tried, briefly, to decode it – because rabbits crapeverywhere, don't be surprised if one craps on your foot? Gratefully, with a dramatic context came clarification. Rabbits are cute but they still do crap things - likecrap everywhere. Jonathan Harvey's play, adroitly reprised here by the Mixed Salad team, is a long andvibrant variation on the old saying 'Don't judge a book by its cover' (or a bunny by its fluff). It is that aged and addled tussle between appearance and reality that is at the crux of this affecting andwell-charged comedy, set in a London back-garden in 2000. The pivotal relationship between Tony (LeeCook) and Iggy (Oliver de Rohan) may be a homosexual one, and the predicament the two men face(they strike up a romance in the wake of a mutual lover's death) may be unique to same-sex affairs, butthe play is by no means a gay-play. Indeed, issues pertaining to homosexuality are carefully peripheralhere: that Tony is HIV positive is only ever alluded to; Mary, mother of Frankie, the dead ex-lover ofTony, touches on the emotional difficulty of raising a gay son; playwright Harvey gently rebukesstereotypical presentations of gay men as 'unscrupulous' queens. What is brought out into the open isless sexuality and more truth - that 'Elusive Camel', to borrow a reference from the play. Director Dave Simms has orchestrated a diverse exhibition of acting styles and tones. Lee Cook playsTony with deft and understated assurance, providing a vital counterpoint to the more ribaldperformances: Eleanor Boyd as loquacious cockney Mary; Deanna Ortuso as Monica, an aspiringperformance-poet whose personality and chest are equally up-front; Alan Crawford does calm acidityvery, very well as Tony's covetous flatmate Kevin; and Maxine Grubel is all boom and bust as straighttalkingboozer Rose. Well-spaced and well-paced, and with Harvey's engaging and acerbic dialogue toboot, the play offers a diverting, if not ground-breaking, traipse through a back-garden in bloom withskeletons and secrets. And it is quite a garden. The set, built by Bill Ramsay, is nicely suggestive and in-keeping with the fibresof the play. The abundance of flowers clashes with the moods of this grieving and dysfunctional gardenparty; and the white fence, manufactured decking, and artificial lawn all echo the text's concern withentrapment and falsity. Considered next to the colossal waste of money which was the State TheatreCompany's set for 'The Give and Take' (the cost of which might have subsidised half a dozen smallertheatre companies for a year), the set, and the play's production values more broadly, are deserving ofconsiderable praise. As Tony finally breaks out of his garden and into the open (well, Manchester), leaving Mary to see inanother lonely summer dusk, the audience leak contentedly out into the theatre foyer, where theyreflect on an old theme (appearance v reality) energetically and skilfully revived.