Simon Stephens, a Stockport born playwright, is perhaps most well-known for ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time’ and ‘Punk Rock’. ‘Pornography’, however, is one that I had not come across before, and I went into the theatre with no prior knowledge of the play’s themes or plot. ‘Pornography’, written in 2008, takes its name from Stephens’ opinion that ‘we live in pornographic times’.
This play explores the lives of eight seemingly unconnected people living in fractured London, amidst the news of the 2012 Olympic games announcement and the Live 8 benefit concert. None of the eight characters were given names, only ‘one’ through to ‘eight’. This helped to give the production its ensemble feel. This play was a series of monologues and duologues that all connected in some way, helping to give the piece a fluidity. They rarely all shared the stage, except for in movement sequences; which worked really well. Director Oliver Hurst and movement director Matilda Philipson deserve the praise here.
The eight actors commanded the stage, with Matthew Haywood at the helm as ‘five’; a man looking at a bleak society and questioning how he can save it, with dire consequences. Isabel Ford as ‘eight’ brought a real, natural lightness to a turbulent play, and her comedy timing was on point. Another special mention within the ensemble cast must go to Isaac Radmore as ‘two’, a school boy in love with his teacher. Radmore really showed his audience the nature of ‘the show must go on’ as, during one of his more emotional monologues, the performance was halted due to a lighting issue. Radmore remained composed, and when all was rectified a couple of minutes later, he gave the audience a spell-binding and emotionally wrought ending to his monologue. Along with great performances from Haywood, Ford and Radmore, the ensemble cast was completed nicely with performances from Kim Burnett, Frankie Lipman, George Miller, Imohen Khan and John Joyce-O’Keefe. They all seemed to respond to one another and match each other’s performances, despite them having stand-alone monologues and duologues.
Despite the slight lighting issue in the middle of act two, the use of multimedia within this production heightened the play immensely. The screens at the back of the stage, sometimes showing vaguely relevant images and videos, and sometimes live-streaming the play itself to the audience as though it was a concert (much like Live 8), was a fresh and innovative way to add dimensions to the play. Beck Cooley was the video director for this production and deserves much praise also. The lighting and sound were also very advanced; yet added layers to the viewing experience. The slight lighting issue can easily be forgiven as Dylan Tate’s use of lighting and Marco Tramontana’s sound design further elevated the mood of the production. The score was original and emotive, I would have loved for it to have been used even more within the play; especially as they used many local actors’ voices to create the ‘voices of the storm’ within the score.
Sitting at just over two hours with an interval and hosted at the ever-growing 53Two, this production runs for a few more days and deserves to be seen. Support local theatre, support local actors, and support brilliant entertainment.
Reviewer - Megan Relph
on - 27.9.23
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