It's summer 1977, and in an English leafy suburb Cyril James has just turned 21. He’s the perfect son, brother and now boyfriend, it seems.

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Cyril knows he’s different, however. A late developer and a sensitive, significantly gifted but curious child, he’d been told. Having now grown into a delicately natured young man, Cyril feels both set apart from his peers and at odds with the norms of a first-generation man-child of colonial immigrants.

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Cyril therefore conceals his anxieties and walks the tightrope of compromise necessary to remain acceptable. So, playing the congenial fellow and obedient son, Cyril diligently seeks not to offend the religious, cultural and social codes his parents and community had taught him to observe from his youth up.

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Then along comes Natasha, closely followed by Tom, and Cyril is forced to wake up - In just five days, Cyril’s sexual, religious and racial demons manifest, but gently of course. Cyril’s tranquillity nonetheless turns to turmoil as the veneer cracks under the pressure of inner conflict, denial and rejection. Why? Well no one’s that perfect, so even Cyril’s secrets must eventually leak out. 

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As Cyril's ability to conform continues to wane, he wonders, who is all his good behaviour for anyway?

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Why is the lie so true and the truth so false?