Jock Night follows the lives of five gay men over the years in the scenes before and after nights out in Manchester’s gay village. 

What unfolds is a two hour party of queer quips and innuendos mixed with a dash of frequent drug use and heavy petting. 

And do you know what? It’s surprisingly educational. 

Now, for the most part it is five men strutting around on stage wearing jock straps. So, Jock Night comes with a lot of trigger warnings (below).  

The cast bounce off of each other really well, which brings the gay archetypes to life. There’s the daddy, the queen, the twink, the jock and the sex worker (he’s not a Pornstar, he’s a porn performer). 

Jock Night covers a lot of ground.

The play starts with AJ and Russell (Matthew Gent) in bed, oh and look, Kam’s in there too. Ben enters the bedroom and just before the party really gets started, Max washes the GHB taste out of his mouth with a chug of gin, which if you know anything about party drugs is a big no no.

Whilst the set of the older Ben’s (David Paisley) bedroom is clearly a safe space for the characters, it also serves as a stark warning that not all places are, as we see some of the characters like Simon (George Hughes) get into situations that in the real world don’t always have a happy ending. 

Sam Goodchild’s sassy, Corrie loving Kam brings a quick witted energy to the gaggle of gays, whilst Levi Payne’s AJ brings a youthful ignorance that allows Jock Night to debunk stigmas and prejudices within and about the gay community.

After Jock Night joined up with Soho’s 56 Dean Street clinic to encourage sexual health awareness, it comes as no surprise that Jock Night is quite informative for any watching.

Writer & Director Adam Zane says that a lack of resources from the NHS encouraged him to write the play and that the characters are based on all the gay men interviewed. The play is fiction of course, but it is all based on the stories of real events shared with Zane. And so, the dialogue between characters artfully informs the audience on how to keep themselves safe (what PrEP is, what undetectable means) in a fun, non-judgemental way. 

All in all Jock Night is definitely worth a visit to the Seven Dials Theatre. On top of a group of guys in jockstraps and harnesses it’s funny and has something important to say.

Go and see for your self.

Trigger warnings: Strong language, drug use, sexual scenes and nudity