Running time
TBA
Category
West End
Ratings & Reviews
British Theatre has covered 46 Beacon in 3 articles since 2015.
About the show
Find 46 Beacon tickets. Check cast, times and running details on BritishTheatre.com.
What Is 46 Beacon About?
Set in 1970s Boston, 46 Beacon takes place over the course of a single, balmy July evening at the address that gives the play its name. Two men, Alan and Robert, find themselves drawn together in a night charged with possibility, each hoping for some kind of connection, whether emotional, physical, or something harder to define. Written by Bill Rosenfield, the play is a quietly observed two-hander that captures the tension and tenderness of human longing with a light but assured touch. Rosenfield's script has been praised for its freshness, its wit, and its genuine emotional warmth, balancing humour with moments of real feeling in a way that feels true to life rather than theatrical contrivance.
Why Is 46 Beacon Worth Seeing?
Two-character plays live or die by the quality of their writing and the chemistry of their performers, and 46 Beacon delivers on both counts. Bill Rosenfield's script is a rarity: a play about desire and connection that trusts its audience to sit with ambiguity rather than spelling everything out. The 1970s Boston setting lends the piece a particular period atmosphere, one in which the stakes of two men spending an evening together carried a very different weight than they might today. The result is a play that is romantic, funny, and gently melancholic all at once, the kind of intimate theatre that stays with you after the house lights come up.
Who Wrote 46 Beacon?
46 Beacon is written by Bill Rosenfield, whose work demonstrates a strong ear for dialogue and a talent for finding drama in the everyday rhythms of conversation. The play showcases his ability to let character and feeling emerge organically, without forcing the pace or over-explaining the emotional stakes.
Practical Information for Visitors
46 Beacon is an intimate stage production suited to audiences who enjoy character-driven drama and dialogue-led theatre. As a two-hander set largely in a single location, it is a focused and unhurried experience, well suited to theatregoers who appreciate plays that reward attention and patience. Specific venue details, running times, and ticket pricing are best confirmed directly with the producing company, as these details may vary depending on the run in question. The play is likely suitable for adults and older teenagers given its themes of desire, identity, and emotional connection in a mid-20th-century context.
Similar Shows You Might Enjoy
If 46 Beacon appeals to you, there are several other intimate, character-driven productions worth exploring. Plays that centre on two people navigating desire and connection in a confined time and space have a long and celebrated tradition on the London stage. You might also enjoy The Normal Heart, which similarly explores LGBTQ+ experience and emotional intimacy, or Entertaining Mr Sloane for another play in which power, desire, and social performance sit at the heart of the action. For more contemporary two-handers, Constellations offers a similarly precise and moving exploration of connection between two people.
Performance schedule
Cast & Creatives
Full cast & creatives46 BEACON CAST
Oliver Coopersmith (Netflix’s I-Boy and the lead in forthcoming Sky Atlantic series Tin Star opposite Tim Roth and Christina Hendricks) and Jay Taylor (Donkey Punch, Nell Gwynn and Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies) will star in the West End debut of 46 Beacon, playing the roles of Alan and Robert respectively in this coming-of-age and coming-out play set in 1970s America.
[caption id="attachment_14867" align="alignnone" width="600"]
Oliver Coopersmith and Jay Taylor.[/caption]
46 BEACON CREATIVE TEAM
Director - Alexander Lass
Producer - Oli Stones and Ed Sinke
Playwright - Bill Rosenfield
Set and Costume Design - Ruth Hall
Related shows still running
View allRelated articles
All articles about this show
Review
REVIEW: 46 Beacon, Trafalgar Studios 2 ✭✭✭
There is little drama, and no dramatic stakes are raised, and for that reason it may struggle to be remembered in the lexicon of gay drama. However, that is …

Paul T Davies
News & Reviews


News
REVIEW: 46 Beacon, Hope Theatre ✭✭✭✭
It is clear from the start that this play – which runs straight through for eighty minutes – is potentially a drama about coming-out and sexual initiation, a…

Tim Hochstrasser
News & Reviews
Show ended
46 Beacon




