Smoke

That morning I woke up to a new message on Insta, from my boyfriend Ben. By this point Ben had been dead for two years. Definitely a new message. Top of my inbox. DMs officially slid into by my dead boyfriend.

When Alex receives a private Instagram message from his now deceased ex-boyfriend’s account, he finds himself trailing both old leads and new in a haphazard and dangerous attempt to uncover the truth. Via a queer lens, Smoke confronts today’s obsession with self-documentation, drugs, paranoia, and living and dying in the digital age - when privacy seems an archaic concept, where do we draw the line?

Packed with dark humour and suspense, this rollercoaster of a piece presents a comedic thriller that homes in on how today’s modern landscape may impact our grasp on reality, uncovering a hidden world within the everyday. Smoke removes the theatrics to offer audiences an intimate conversation and exploration of queer survival in Alexis Gregory’s most brutally honest and raw piece yet, investigating the blur between reality and fantasy in this post-truth era.

This edition was published to coincide with the run at London’s King’s Head Theatre in November 2024.

Alexis Gregory is a performer, playwright and theatre maker. He is a regular reader at LGBT Literary Salon Polari, and was longlisted for the 2016 Polari Prize.