Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing takes us to a rough council estate in the south-east of England where Jamie, a young man exploring his sexual orientation, lives with his mother Sandra, a single, 35-year-old caring mother, who accepts Jamie for who he is but has more important things on her mind..for example, her 27-year-old toyboy, Tony. Tony is a bit of a hippy, he loves getting stoned and wants to get to know Jamie better but Jamie doesn’t want Tony to be any sort of a father figure.
In the flat next door lives Jamie’s friends Leah and Ste. Leah is a bit of a tear away drug addict who isn’t much liked by Sandra because she sees Leah as a bad influence.
Steve, Jamie’s love interest, is brought up by his drug dealing brother and abusive father. He spends the play denying his homosexuality but comes to accept Jamie’s love and they form a beautiful young romantic relationship.