Ghosts of West Hollywood – Etcetera Theatre, London

Writer and Director: Tino Orsini

The titular ghosts in Tino Orsini’s short autobiographical monologue, Ghosts of West Hollywood, are not just the demons of the actor’s mostly unsuccessful three-year endeavour to find fame in La La Land. The intensely personal piece takes us back further into a childhood growing up as an immigrant with an infamous Italian heritage – “Yes, those Orsinis… saints or sinners, popes or princes” he tells us – and then later into longstanding struggles with coming out, 1990s clubbing, addiction, the HIV epidemic, and a cameo role in Ted Lasso.

Clad in dungarees and a checked shirt, Orsini proves to be an engaging, genial, and deftly witty host. But, perhaps inevitably, trying to cram an entire life into a 45-minute single-hander leaves more questions than answers. We get anecdotes aplenty, some interesting, some instantly recognisable to gay men of Orsini’s generation, many thoughtful and affecting. But the writer and performer’s closing peroration that “I’m done auditioning for history” feels misleading. Orsini is still auditioning his life story for the public, trying to find the right shape for it.

As a child in Italy, before his parents immigrated to London to become delicatessen entrepreneurs, Orsini wanted to be a priest, even staging ersatz playground masses for the neighbouring kids. This religious upbringing might go some way to explaining the internalised homophobia that plagues Orsini’s younger life, driving him, one might surmise, into cocaine addiction (“I can’t compete with something else you keep choosing”, his boyfriend tells him), and a drive-by with tragedy during the early stages of the AIDS epidemic. It is we who have to draw these connections because, frustratingly, Orsini does not.

We learn that Orsini was let go from a stage school after just two semesters, but the why remains elusive. The performer tells us of his “first rehab”, hinting that there are others, but the pattern behind them is hard to grasp. He tells us about the pain of learning that his boyfriend, David, is HIV positive, yet not what happened to him or the relationship in question. The brutal murder in Los Angeles of his uncle’s girlfriend is alluded to, but not contextualised, which leaves one wondering why he brings it up or what purpose the revelation serves. He links his love of theatre to a kindly middle-aged English woman gifting him a Julie Garland biography when he was a teenager. There is more to it than that, one supposes, but what?

Ghosts of West Hollywood feels like a work in progress for a longer, more rounded work: one that connects the dots in this likeable, enigmatic performer’s life.

Runs until 7 June 2026