Theatre
Close Enough to Touch – Secrets lie within ourselves and toilet cubicles
Red Ladder Theatre Company and Silent Uproar explore sexuality and self-discovery at Leeds Playhouse in the midst of their autumn tour
Declan Kelly -
25th October 2026 
Public toilets are not where most people go looking for a life-changing theatrical experience. Usually, the aim is to get in, get out and avoid eye contact. Yet in Close Enough to Touch, playwright Henry Roberts transforms this unglamorous setting into the backdrop for a story about sex, secrecy and the search for self-understanding.
At Leeds Playhouse, this one-person production follows M, played by Stefan Race, a young man whose life is far from straightforward. Unemployed and struggling in his relationship with his girlfriend, Isla, he begins exploring anonymous sexual encounters in public toilets. What follows is an exploration of desire, shame and the difficult distinction between the person we present to the world and the person we keep hidden.
A play about anonymous sex might easily rely on its subject matter to provoke controversy. Fortunately, Roberts is interested in more than shock value. He explores how intimacy can exist without commitment, how desire becomes entangled with shame, and whether we can truly understand ourselves while concealing parts of our identity.
Race carries the production alone. Without an ensemble to share the burden, the performance depends on physicality, expression and vocal variation to bring M’s experiences to life. This stripped-back approach draws the audience into his private thoughts, offering a glimpse into a world many might otherwise never encounter. From physicality to emotional drive, Race is a powerhouse when it comes to taking the audience on an emotional and yet thought-provoking journey. Grabbing the audience with laughter and vulnerability throughout this 70 min story.
Staged in Leeds Playhouse’s Bramall Rock Void, the production uses a bus shelter and a red bench to establish its setting. A screen above the shelter displays the script, providing audiences with an additional way to follow the dialogue. This thoughtful accessibility feature allows audience members to read alongside the live performance, helping to make the production more inclusive without disrupting its flow.
The minimal set keeps the focus on M rather than overwhelming the story with spectacle. However, building a drama around a single perspective presents its own challenges. Although the subject offers plenty to consider, there are moments when the ideas feel more compelling than the dramatic momentum carrying them. Challenging themes alone cannot guarantee compelling theatre, and greater variation might have allowed the narrative more room to breathe.
Close Enough to Touch is at its strongest when it looks beyond the provocative nature of its subject to the vulnerability beneath it. Race’s performance and Roberts’ willingness to explore an often-overlooked experience give the production something meaningful to say.
Perhaps the real discomfort lies neither in the setting nor in the sex, but in the possibility that the parts of ourselves we conceal most carefully are often the parts we most need to understand.
Running throughout the rest of October through to November you can catch this production in and around Yorkshire. Tickets available HERE.
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Featured image: Rhys Robling
