Coventry preview for Declan Bennett's new one man show

Declan Bennett penned the show during a period of isolation during coronavirus lockdown

Growing up gay and Catholic, toxic masculinity and men's mental health are all themes explored in a new one-man-show.

Actor and singer-songwriter Declan Bennett, originally from Coventry, has written Boy out the City which he will perform at the Edinburgh Fringe.

A preview of the autobiographical piece will be held in his home town.

Created in a period of isolation during the pandemic, he says it runs the "whole gamut of emotions".

The performer, who played Charlie Cotton in EastEnders and is known for his performances on Broadway and the West End, moved out of London to the Oxfordshire countryside with his partner just before the coronavirus lockdown.

The actor and playwright describes his one-man-show as "brutal and honest"

"At first it was this dreamy idyllic life," he said, until his partner landed a role overseas, leaving him alone.

"The premise of the story, in which the lonelier this man gets and the more the solitude kicks in - maybe drinking a little bit more than he should - he starts to experience a lot of memories and voices from his past," he said.

He realised it was time to let these stories surface and be dealt with.

"It's not a gay story, it's not a lonely story, it's an experience of a human being experiencing multiple emotions through different periods of his life," he said.

Boy out the City will run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 2 to 28 August

Growing up in a big Irish Catholic community in Coventry during the 90s was not easy, he said.

"The media were still using derogatory terms about homosexuals and gay people, and if you're 14 and reading these things in the paper, and you know you're feeling that, what choice do you have but to just shut it down and be like 'that's not me'."

"I pushed it down, I didn't want to be gay, I thought this is too difficult.

"I moved to London when I was 17, and it just opened up this whole new world and it gave me the confidence to come out."

Fishy Moores

Writing such an honest piece of theatre had been a "scary" experience, he added.

"There's lots lots of fun, and it's it's funny, and it's very humorous, and it's touching. It is brutal, and it's raw, and that's exactly the type of theatre I like to see."

Declan Bennett has performed in shows in the West End and Broadway

Bringing the play to preview in Coventry was "an important part of the journey," he said.

"There's an entire section about when we used to go roller skating in the Coventry Baths on a Sunday night, that was like our big night out, and then we'd go to Fishy Moores afterwards to have chips," he said.

"It's going to feel like a real event for me and the people in there and going to bring back some lovely memories."

Boy out the City runs at the Underbelly, Cowgate, Edinburgh from 3 to 27 August.

His preview performance is at LTB, Litten Tree Building Showrooms, 1 Warwick Road , Coventry on Thursday 6 July.