The Lightning Field is a land art installation in by Walter De Maria, situated in New Mexico. It consists of 400 stainless steel poles set in a grid that measures a mile by a kilometre, supposedly attracting lightning. In Ozanich's short play, the action takes place at the bottom of one of these poles, on an otherwise bare stage, with the installation, and the approaching lightning storm, acting as a multi-faceted metaphors for what is about to unfold.

The play starts wholesomely enough, aside from a rather creepy anecdote about a “teaser bull”, which forewarns of events further on down the line. Sam and Andy have decided to come and visit The Lightning Field with their respective parents. Sam has a secret agenda - to ask Andy to marry him and to consider moving from their native New York to Denver, to begin a new life together.

Andy is unsure, the couple have what might be lightly referred to as “problems”. Lori is Andy's mother, the epitome of the bourgeois, liberal, divorced parent who loves and accepts her son's sexuality. She's also lonely and possibly interested in establishing a relationship with Sam's father Gerrit, also along for the ride, a straight-laced, single, regular kind of guy.

But nothing is what it seems in this play. You may start out finding the characters quite likeable, but it's unlikely that you'll feel the same way by the end. They all have secrets, nasty secrets, which only come to light in The Lightning Field’s final harrowing scenes.

Banner NY's production of this play presents an uncomfortable sense of brooding doom throughout, even though it zips along at quite a pace. There is a palpable sense of menace in the air, and viewers might spend some considerable time wondering why anyone would want to hang around such a dangerous, yet beautiful, place when there's a good chance that they're going to get struck by lightning!

Part of this sense of unease must surely come from the excellent casting, it's a shock when H. Ryan Clarke drops his goofy and cute persona and when Rick Zahn's Gerrit turns out not to be such a cosy character after all. The play's length is its strength and weakness. It may sock you right between the eyes, but it also feels rushed, as though the playwright is trying to lever in as many issues as possible into a short space of time. of the play

Some of the chemistry between Sam and Andy feels false too, primarily because there is not enough time to establish their relationship at a more leisurely pace. But the sheer energy, and the cast, and some sly lines and smart observations make it more than worthwhile.

Find out more at www.lightningfieldtheplay.com and www.myspace.com/lightningfieldtheplay and read our interview with H. Ryan Clarke.

The Lightning Field, by David Ozanich
Oval House Theatre Downstairs
52-54 Kennington Oval
London, SE11 5SW
020 7582 7680 / www.ovalhouse.com

13 November- 8 December 2007

Want more? Then buy Something for the Boys: Musical Theatre and Gay Culture by John M. Clum. Get it online and save some money to put towards Alan Sinfield's excellent book Out on the Stage: Lesbian and Gay Theatre in the Twentieth Century.