Drugs, unemployment and a heavy air of purposelessness gnaw at the trio in Samuel D Hunter’s bleak 2015 play, which considers what it means to live, work and travel in the US, a country where it seems nothing is new and it’s a struggle to survive. Despite the show’s overly expository dialogue, Clarkston gradually gives way to an intimate story about trying to make the best of the hand you’ve been dealt.
Heartstopper’s Joe Locke plays Jake, who wants his life to matter. A forcefully chipper and naive liberal arts graduate, he’s dreamed of heading west to follow the footsteps of his very distant relative, the pioneer William Clark, whose imperialist history is acknowledged if not fully wrestled with. But grounded by his Huntington’s disease, Jake has only made it as far as the nondescript city the explorer is named for. Taking night shifts at Costco, he clatters into the life of Chris (Ruaridh Mollica), whose tough, largely closeted exterior hides immense vulnerability.
