'The Inheritance' - ACT Hub (originally published 20 Oct, 2024)

Everyman Theatre tells the story of queer hardship and joy in Matthew Lopez’s internationally acclaimed play The Inheritance. The two-part epic, set in New York City after the 2016 US presidential election, follows the lives of Eric (James McMahon) and Toby (Joel Horwood) as they seek community, identity, love, and connection with generations past.  

Inspired by E.M. Forster’s 1910 novel Howards End, the production holds the concept of home and intergenerational connection in high esteem. In conjunction with Jarrad West’s expert direction and a first-rate cast, Lopez’s narrative explores the intermingling of queer stories. The production sheds light on the interpersonal relationships between queer people, reframing the mainstream narrative imposed upon the LGBTQIA+ community as political or legal concepts.  

Whilst the unconventional length of The Inheritance may give rise to some apprehension, the humour and sensitivity of the production remains beguiling until its final scene. Opening night catapulted the audience into an emotional whirlwind of queer crisis and romance, leaving no stones unturned or boundaries uncrossed.  

Lopez’s innovative narration style is one of the production’s most intriguing elements and will have audiences in hysterics. The ghost of E.M. Forster (Duncan Driver) acts as our omniscient – and poorly behaved – guide through Eric and Toby’s story. Forster’s awareness of the play’s intertextuality and metanarrative makes him more than simply an unreliable narrator. The author becomes a symbol of perceived injustice, with Toby interrogating how historical figures such as Forster could have influenced queer people’s present reality. Duncan Driver’s equally comical and poignant performance is central to the production’s exploration of intergenerational responsibility and is a highlight of the entire theatre-watching experience.

The play tells an important story of queer love and survival. It is a breath of fresh air during an era obsessed with queer fetishisation and infantilisation within literary fiction. Additionally, The Inheritance is more than a tale of suffering. It is an invitation to embark on a journey through a different, likely unknown, realm of the human condition. In addition to conversations on marriage equality and the AIDS epidemic, the play explores how our concept of sexuality informs – or rather, does not inform – our idea of how to love. It leaves us questioning what it means to be in love, and what the concept of home means to us when love is inevitably lost. 

The remarkably talented cast and production team at Everyman Theatre have each left a piece of their soul in The Inheritance. This play is a turbulent, yet worthwhile emotional journey, telling a valuable story of queer history, queer present and asks us what we may owe to future queer communities.  

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‘The Inheritance’ is showing at the ACT Hub from October 12th to November 2nd, 2024.