The Pass Review. A heated rivalry, but in soccer and short-lived.
5 / 10
The revival of this 12-year-old English play about a closeted footballer might seem well-timed to take advantage of the heightened interest both in gay athletes (thanks to a certain TV series) and in the world of soccer (coming as it does in the tailwind of this year’s World Cup.) Jason (Matisse Ratron-Neal) and Ade (Terry Bell) start off as 17-year-old striving strikers on the eve of a career-making or -breaking match. But “The Pass” is something of a tease — sexy, twisty, suspenseful, but also downbeat and misleading. The play takes place over twelve years entirely in hotel rooms, and, although it is full of throwaway allusions to soccer (mentions of Ronaldo or “Becks in the States), it doesn’t ultimately have much compelling to say about the sport. It also doesn’t offer insights about closeted gay life, or about celebrity, that we haven’t seen better expressed elsewhere.
