The reviews are in for Jerker, Robert Chesley’s 1986 two-hander, which has opened at Waterloo East Theatre in a production marking the play’s 40th anniversary. It is the first time the play has been staged at that address. Paul Dennison plays JR, a wounded Vietnam veteran, and James Lee plays Bert; the two men conduct their whole relationship through late-night telephone calls in early-1980s San Francisco, as AIDS closes in on the city’s gay community. Henry Adams directs. The critics are broadly agreed on the two performances. They are less agreed on the explicit first third, which several of them feel the evening has to work its way past before the play’s tenderness comes through.
The verdict: seven reviews in, and every one of them carries a rating — one five-star notice, two four-star, one three-and-a-half and three three-star, an average of 3.6 out of 5. Most of the critics praise the chemistry between Paul Dennison and James Lee, which has to travel down a telephone line for the whole evening. Where they part company is the explicit opening: some find the phone sex runs on too long before the relationship comes into view, while others regard it as the point of the play.
What are critics saying about JERKER?
Box Office Radio
Reviewer: Paul Scott
“Put Lee and Dennison together and sparks fly. Their chemistry is the engine of the production, turning what might sound like an old-fashioned telephone conversation into something surprisingly immediate. You listen to these two men talking, flirting, joking and revealing themselves, and before long you find yourself invested in what happens next. And that is the clever trick of Jerker. Yes, sex is everywhere. The conversations are raw and intense, the subject matter is provocative and the characters are clearly getting plenty of mileage out of their imaginations. But this isn’t really a play about getting off. It is a play about wanting someone to know you.”
LondonTheatre1
Reviewer: Terry Eastham
“And I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the trip as they grow from being phone sex buddies to caring friends. I really loved both guys, and about halfway through I was deeply wishing they would give up on the phones and get together in real life. Whether they do or don’t, I can’t say, but I will admit the ending took me by surprise and may have led to a tear or two being shed by my good self. But to be a hit, it’s not just the narrative that needs to work; it’s also the characters. And Dennison and Lee have a real chemistry that goes down the phone lines and over the footlights to the audience, making them not only believable as individuals but also as a telephone-line-connected couple.”
All That Dazzles
“A tender two-hander where sex becomes a way to hide from love, grief and vulnerability, until hiding is no longer possible.”
Reviewer: Sammi Xing
“Paul Dennison gives JR plenty of room for this contradiction to emerge. His performance moves naturally between the playful confidence of their sexual encounters and the vulnerability underneath them, making JR’s growing attachment increasingly difficult to disguise. James Lee’s Bert provides a compelling counterpart, and the chemistry between the two performers is particularly impressive considering how much of their relationship has to exist through voice and imagination rather than physical interaction.”
London Pub Theatres
“Remembers the lost”
Reviewer: Nilgün Yusuf
“Set in 1980s San Francisco, JERKER is set at a terrifying time when AIDS was decimating entire communities of gay men. Although the word AIDS is not mentioned once, it weaves in and out of the text as an unspoken, fearful spectre. The story arc is built through the phone calls alone - with no action outside these - and each phone call and time span is broken up by a poppy, feel-good music choice of the era (sound design by director, Henry Adams & Scott Michaels) including Madonna, Blondie, Prince and the Eurythmics.”
The Reviews Hub
Reviewer: Rebecca Clifton
“San Fransico is set up as an ideal of a gay utopia, but those days are gone. As Bert notes, “I don’t give my number out nowadays.” There is a fear in being open to love. Love is safe but only at an emotional and physical distance. Getting too close in any sense can cause pain. Jerker skews too heavily towards the graphic and provocative phone sex and finds the genuine connection too late.”
A Young(ish) Perspective
“A poignant exploration of love, community, and isolation in times of crisis, somewhat weighed down by a challenging opening act.”
Reviewer: Mark Lloyd
“From an acting perspective, the staging poses an unusual technical challenge. Because both performers deliver their entire dialogue into telephone handsets while pretending they cannot see each other, they cannot rely on visual cues, physical touch, or direct eye contact to build chemistry. Despite these constraints, both actors deliver impressively grounded performances. They successfully bring depth, vitality, and distinct personalities to two men who, on paper, remain somewhat anonymous figures.”
Production photographs by Scott Michaels.
Jackstage
“Sexual fantasy and comfort during the AIDS epidemic”
Reviewer: Eddie Slattery
“Jerker is explicit, somewhat repetitious and deliberately challenging in convention. Its restricted conversational form doesn't sustain the full 90 minutes, but when the sexual illusion drops, the play reveals something deeply human. Dennison and Lee contribute to this painfully realist progression that combines carnal relief with emotional relief, and what it means when somebody needs you to listen.”
The production photographs were released on 28 September, and the run itself was announced earlier in the month. For another opening this week, the critics have also had their say on Hay Fever at Wyndham’s Theatre.
Jerker runs at Waterloo East Theatre, Brad Street, until Sunday 18 October 2026. The production is for audiences aged 18 and over.
