Jerker (or the Helping Hand)
by Robert Chesley
8-9th March 2024
London Performance Studios
“Enough of this nicey-nice-lovey-dovey stuff: I’m gonna make you eat ass and suck my balls and drink my piss like you never have before, you get me?”
Posters by Tom Joyes
JR and Bert are San Francisco faggots. They don’t know each other’s names, what they look like, or where they live. They do know how to turn each other on.
Their friendship begins with a dirty phone call. But, over the many nights that follow, as their lovers fall sick and die, the men come to share their hopes and fears about an increasingly uncertain and frightening future.
Robert Chesley was a San Franciscan playwright and gay rights activist who used his theatre to celebrate sexual liberation and dramatise the toll of HIV/AIDS on the queer community. ‘Jerker, or the Helping Hand’, written in 1986, is his masterpiece.
Robert Chesley (1943-1990)
Video by Lylani Devorah
To find out more about Robert Chesley and his gay activism, visit his author page.
Behind-the-Scenes
Step into the studio with costume and set designers Max Allen and Elliott Adcock as they piece together the world of ‘Jerker’.Listen to the Show
April 2024 - Our production of ‘Jerker’ was captured live and broadcast on Montez Press Radio. Relive the show in their archive, with an introduction by Alastair Curtis.Cast
Director
Alastair Curtis
Costume and Set
Max Allen & Elliott Adcock
Sound
Helen Noir
Lighting
Byron Ladd-Carr
Producers
Izzy Parriss
Katie Byrne and Max Laurie
Stage Manager
Cara Dromgoole
Photography
Henry Mills
Commissioned by
London Performance Studios
Thanks to
Victor Bumbalo and Mark I Chester