Freddie Brook’s one man show is a confident exploration of many different accounts of coming out. It tells storys both mundane and moving making it clear the range of responses people receive to telling friends and family that they are gay. Brooks doesn’t simply go for the extremes which I commend. Some of these stories are gentler than others as are some people’s experiences.

Just Don’t Shout it from the Rooftops is a 45 minute show that whizzes by – and Brook’s kinetic performance is largely the reason. The staging is minimal – with just a chair that makes the stage look slightly like Freddie is on Mastermind. While Brooks employs a few props, my principle criticism of the show is that it can be hard to decipher changes between characters. But this is something that is often hard to get right in these ‘one narrator, many stories’ shows.

The stories are still well delivered and Brooks is a compelling performer. I hope this piece is given further space to develop as it offers an updated glimpse of a vital moment in the lives of many LGBT people.

The production was performed on 13-14 July https://system.spektrix.com/kingsheadtheatre/website/eventdetails.aspx?WebEventId=justdontshout