Animal is a funny and heart-breaking new play about a severely disabled young gay man trying to balance hook-ups and dating with his reliance on round-the-clock care. Its central character, David, can’t wank, so at 25 he gets on Grindr and begins a sexual adventure. After raved-about performances in Manchester the award-winning play comes to London’s Park Theatre from 19 April to 20 May. We asked story originator Josh Hepple and playwright Jon Bradfield (best known for a string of hit gay pantomimes at Vauxhall’s now closed Above The Stag Theatre) to ask each other some questions.

Animal at Park Theatre — The cast of ANIMAL, UK Tour, (c) Piers Foley

JOSH INTERVIEWS JON …

Josh: What did you like about my very crude (in both senses!) outline for a play?

Jon: It was a gift of an idea – funny and queer and substantial. A combination of something I know – hook-up culture – and something new to me. You talked about how disabled people aren’t always seen as needing sexual pleasure and affection, or being capable of giving them, and how dehumanising that is, which I found powerful. The crudeness (in both senses) was part of it: I wouldn’t have been as interested if you had a complete story, but having a starting point and rough ideas you wanted to explore made it a puzzle to solve. And I’m not very shockable in terms of sex so I like playing with taboos.

You had no major experience of disability before you worked with me. What have you learnt?

Seeing how much time and energy you have to spend just making sure you have care in place was eye-opening. It was empowering to find I could understand your speech impairment if I didn’t panic or get embarrassed and just listened and asked you to repeat yourself. And I hadn’t considered the impact of a lifetime of being severely disabled, with the exclusion and uncertainty and prejudice that comes with that.

Is that also what you hope audiences think about?

I think they will, but I’ve tried not to write a lesson. I’m mainly using that to create situations and obstacles to drive a story. Like if you watch a war film, they’ll have done loads of research but it’s not to teach you about war, it’s to create a world for characters to inhabit and respond to, and hopefully the audience empathises with them in the moment.

How did you find working on something that was sensitive and personal to me?

Great, in that you pushed me to write something really authentic. But there is a sense of responsibility and unease that goes with that. I can barely remember what I’ve made up and what I’ve fictionalised from your life but some of it is personal to you and we’re exploiting it for drama. We were both determined that Animal would be about a unique distinctive character rather than somehow representative of the disabled community but that means that in terms of disability you’re my only perspective, so it must feel brutally personal at times.

You’re best known for writing adult pantomimes. Animal is funny but it’s not a comedy – some parts are difficult to watch.

Even when I’m writing broad comedies, I’m looking for emotional truth and creating tension from what different characters want. You get more and better laughs – and gasps – from playing the truth of a situation, even if the situation itself is ridiculous. But you’re right, Animal technically isn’t a comedy, even though it feels like a very rude fucked-up sitcom and veers into romcom territory. It’s a comic drama and the difference is that laughter isn’t the ultimate goal. There’s some painful stuff in there and I like that you sometimes encouraged me to go even darker.

Have you drawn on your own life too?

My own experience of getting to know you inevitably came into it. David is a huge role, but he isn’t the only character so I’m also exploring how his cerebral palsy and his reliance on people affects the people in his life – his assistant, his friends, lovers – and his relationships with them. There are vague aspects of people I’ve known in a couple of the characters, but nothing major that’s taken directly from my life. One of the hook-up scenes is about a situation I’m sure lots of people have been in where a guy turns up and you’re not feeling it and have to decide if it’s more awkward to say “sorry no ” or just get it over with! So, there’s stuff like that, but nothing heavily personal.

JON INTERVIEWS JOSH …

Jon: What made you want to make a play like this?

Josh: I reviewed theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe for a few years and noticed a lack of shows about disability. The idea of overcoming adversity to fall in love isn’t new but I wondered if disability could be a fresh angle. I realised I wasn’t the person to write it, but I’m glad that 10 years on from having the idea, before even using Grindr myself, the essence of it is there in Animal.

Why did you think to approach me?

It sounds slightly strange but from watching your pantomimes there was some intuitive feeling that the writer would get me and get the story I wanted to tell. I thought there could be something powerful about your writing style coupled with a heavier, more naturalistic story.

You’ve produced comedy nights, but theatre is new to you. What have you been surprised by?

I don’t think I realised how many people would be involved. Not just cast and director and set designer but video designer, composer, movement and intimacy directors, several stage managers. We’ve been sharing drafts for years just the two of us, and then when rehearsals started everything took off and expanded.

Did audiences in Manchester respond as you thought they would?

The responses have been overwhelmingly positive. I hope people don’t feel they can’t engage critically with the show just because of the subject matter. And I hope it starts conversations about care, sex and relying on other people. I’m interested in what other disabled people make of it and relate to, and I hope that health care professionals and educators can reflect on some of the content. Art should challenge how you think, and I hope we can disrupt some of the narrative about disability.

What advice would you give David or young gay disabled people?

You will have rejections but remember that everyone is different and even if someone treats you like shit, every interaction is brand new, and they don’t know about the previous experiences. Try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and ask yourself how resilient you thought you were. If you don’t feel in the right frame of mind, don’t date but if you can figure out what emotional support you can rely on if something goes wrong, go for it. And try not to define yourself by whether you have a partner. It should not be some kind of validation. That goes for Grindr shags too; they shouldn’t be about validation and it’s equally important not to interpret someone declining a shag as some kind of entire rejection. It’s easy to fall into that trap, disabled or not.