Having seen only high-intensity-stress theatre lately, I’d started to think I was perhaps being used by Onya for a sick social experiment: ‘How theatre can change your life through anxiety’. It was therefore with great relief (to all who know me) to see something so witty, fun and familiar.
Familiar in the sense that right from the moment you walked in the cast was hanging around on stage and you felt like you were in any twenty-something lounge room, if said lounge had theatre seating to enable strangers to ogle you. Playing tunes on their iPods, laundry drying racks cluttering up space, with hipster onesie draped over it, and actual twenty-somethings sitting on the couch waiting your arrival.
Straight picked out the difficulties of nudging thirty and feeling like you’ve either become a staid, boring old couple, or, conversely, that your single hedonistic lifestyle might be nearing pathetic. I related uncomfortably well to both.
Lewis is married and scared of the next thirty years of his life arriving too soon. When his old friend from uni, Waldorf, crash lands back into his life and onto his couch, he tumbles haphazardly through his fears. Lewis arrives home to find a stoned one-night stand (Steph) of Waldorf’s still on his couch, and the night spirals into Lewis and Waldorf being dared into submitting an amateur porn. Having witnessed many a wayward dare in my time, this is not as far-fetched as it seems.
In the initial play by Lynne Shelton, the following through of the porn happens due to the combination of adventurous Waldorf and happily heterosexual, but bored and terrified Lewis. In this adaptation, however, the impression is given that Lewis is doing it to crowbar his way out of the closet.
To this end, the ending of the play was unsatisfying and somewhat trivialised the issues that had been running throughout into a ‘is he or isn’t he gay?’ question. However, the excellent ensemble cast and honest and fast paced dialogue kept this enjoyable and light throughout, even the set changes were fun, and the set incredibly impressive.
Image credits: Jodie Hutchinson
