As a straight actor in the role of a young gay man, Bruno Langley stole the hearts of millions of viewers in his multiple award-winning role as Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street. Torn between his strong feelings for his pregnant girlfriend and his homosexuality, television audiences watched him endure one of the most emotionally gruelling roles in the programme's history, as Todd became the first character on the soap to out himself.

Again, in Shelagh Delaney's acclaimed 1958 kitchen sink drama A Taste Of Honey, in which he appears alongside Samantha Giles (Emmerdale and Where The Heart Is), we find him playing a young, sexually-confused man who moves in with a young working-class woman who's pregnant.

Set in a Manchester suburb, teenage pregnancy, homosexuality, and potential homelessness all feature in the sometimes gritty, sometimes witty, script.

As one of the few actors lucky enough to have successfully escaped the curse of soap star typecasting, isn't Bruno now positively encouraging it, by taking on the role of Geoffrey?

The 23-year-old - who, since making his professional stage debut in Romeo And Juliet at Stafford Castle last summer, has appeared in The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse Now, Dr Who, and the West End play Night Sky - says: "When people offer me a part, it's usually because there's some sort of string attached.

"The character I play is very effeminate and has personal issues that are never really spoken about in the play, but we assume that he is that way inclined.

"That is something I had already been attached to through Coronation Street, even though Todd and Geoffrey are completely different to each other.

"In the entertainment business, there's a lot of sex going on, gay and straight.

"I've been around these people all the time since I was 17, and we've talked about things.

"It wasn't something that I had to research, to be honest.

"In this play, it's not an issue. There's a lot more fun in it than some people think, and you do not get bogged down in everything in the same way as my character did in Coronation Street.

"I guess what I particularly like about A Taste Of Honey is that it's about putting your mind back to the 1950s.

"I'm playing an 18-year-old young adult and, while today to communicate we have mobile phones and computers, back in his day there was nothing like that.

"These days, we would never think that to have lots of fun we should go to the fair.

"But then you realise that back then it was an entertainment highlight of the year - and it's nice to make yourself think like that."

A Taste Of Honey is at The Regent Theatre in Hanley between Monday, June 26 and Saturday, July 1. Tickets cost between £7 and £19.50. Call the box office on 0870 0606649 or 0870 9080888.

© This Is The Sentinel, 16/6/06

<< back