There’s a certain brand of queer theatre that doesn’t just knock politely at the door of your attention—it struts in shirtless, powdered, and harnessed, demanding that you watch, listen, and feel. And in that genre, Jock Night isn’t just a play—it’s a pulsing, pill-dusted prayer to hedonism, heartbreak, and homoerotic honesty.
Enter: Gabriel Clark.
Yes, that Gabriel Clark—former Hollyoaks heartthrob who played Oliver Morgan with a tender touch and plenty of onscreen brooding from 2020 to 2022. If you were a loyal viewer, you probably remember his storyline tackling consent, identity, and addiction—gritty stuff for a soap, and Clark more than handled it. But now? He’s stepping into something even grittier. Something sweatier. Something with a dress code that says “harnesses or less.”
RELATED: Jacob Elordi’s Jockstrap Moment Makes its Rounds Online–Again!
Clark just dropped a selfie on Instagram that stopped thumbs mid-scroll: shirt off, glistening abs, harness on. The caption? A cheeky nod to his new gig in the revival of Jock Night, a play that asks, “What happens when five queer men meet in a club called Jock for a night of PNP and emotional whiplash?” (Spoiler: it’s a lot. In all the best ways.)
First staged in 2017, Jock Night is the brainchild of writer Adam Zane and the unapologetically bold Hive North theatre company. The show weaves together the high-octane rush of sex, drugs, and cruising culture with the quiet ache of connection and loneliness. It’s as much about the comedown as the come-ons.
And the 2025 version? It’s turning up the voltage.
David Paisley returns to the stage with the kind of commanding energy that makes you want to confess all your sins and secrets. But perhaps the most buzzed-about addition to the cast is Australian former Olympic diver (and queer icon in his own right), Matthew Mitcham. He’s gone from triple somersaults to triple threats, proving that elite athletes can do fringe theatre and look excellent in leather.
Mitcham, like Clark, teased fans with a photo in full gear—a visual so powerful it could very well earn its own equity card.
What makes Jock Night so beloved in the gay community isn’t just the delicious visuals (though, let’s be honest—they help). It’s the unfiltered truth-telling. The messy vulnerability. The play doesn’t moralize or tidy up queer nightlife; it lays it bare, smeared eyeliner and all.
There’s sex. There’s sadness. There’s that moment at 4 a.m. when the music fades and someone finally says what they’re actually feeling.
For a generation of queer men raised between apps and abstinence lectures, Jock Night feels like the theatre equivalent of finding your chosen family on a sticky dancefloor, under bad lighting, while high as hell—but somehow still grounded. And in a cultural moment where queer joy and queer mess are often sanitized, this show reminds us: it’s okay to be complicated. To crave, to connect, to feel way too much.
Jock Night plays Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre from May 20–31 and then London’s Seven Dials Playhouse from June 2–15. Tickets? Selling fast. Selfies? Plentiful. And the vibes? Unmistakably, unapologetically queer.
So yeah, Gabriel Clark is back—and this time, he’s not just playing a character. He’s playing us.
Source: Queerty