XPOSED
Southwark Playhouse, 24th Feb
It’s that time of year when, having already gorged on the vast array of incredible LGBTQ theatre being shown as part of the annual VAULT festival in Waterloo, Full Disclosure Theatre returns with another of their impressive showcase evenings of new writing which aims to expose ‘the naked and entertaining truths about queer life”. This is the third of their Exposed showcase evenings I have seen, and I’m happy to report that the evening, along with the talent on display, is as vibrant, diverse and entertaining as ever.
Once again comprising of eight short plays, the first half is made up of four two-handers, with Dad, written by Phil Charles and directed by Leonie Marzecki, setting the tone perfectly for the evening ahead, (getting points immediately from us for including the phrase ‘Jack The Lad’!) Dad is a beautifully observed coming out story that finds Kyle, (Adonis Jenieco, last seen in Tom Wright’s Very Special Guest Star) prompted into coming out to his mother (Safron Beck) after the death of his father. The reaction he gets is not the one he expects, and whilst there are plenty of well placed laughs for this evenings opener, there is also plenty of poignant introspection from Kyle who, despite his mothers acceptance of her son, is left wondering if his father would have been quite so accepting of him had he still been alive, as well as being nervous that, now he has declared his sexuality out loud, whether he might not be able to handle being gay himself. Writing, direction and acting all come together beautifully for this showcase opener.
The three stories that follow take us in a number of unexpected directions, the most layered of which was the evenings second play, The Date, written by Lekha Desai Morrison and directed by Amie Burns Walker. What unfolds is the story of a young Indian woman, Priya, (Sarah Begum) who, thinking she is meeting the owner of a dating agency through which she hopes to find a husband, finds herself being groomed for an arranged marriage with the owners son, ‘no matter what the financial or emotional cost’. The writing is impressive, hindered only by Begum’s slightly lack-lustre performance, but the play is brought vividly back to life by Srabani Sen’s wonderful characterisation of the agency owner/mother. It’s a story with enough complexity to easily warrant being developed into a longer piece, having so much in both the characters and the culture to make this story worthy of a closer look.
Two plays in, and it was hard to imagine that this quality can be sustained throughout. The next two plays unequivically proved that it could, with the equally entertaining Half and Half written by Georgie West, and Drag Baby, written by Grace Carroll taking a very appreciative audience to the interval, all of the first half’s two-handers having successfully managed to tease us with several unpredictable and original plot twists, traversing the fine line of being exceptionally funny whilst still being able to bring a gravity to some of the more contemporary themes.
Things definitely take a more serious tone after the interval however, with Jamila Barett’s play Boxes, and whilst the dialogue found itself getting somewhat bogged down in exposition rather than emotion, this story of the end of a relationship, (Jasmine Stewart and Ann Marcuson) and the factors that led to it’s deterioration still manage to be thought provoking, despite the rather clumsy appearance of a security guard (Derek Murphy) that unfortunately felt neither convincing or particularly necessary. This was promptly followed however by Conor Mainwarings comic tour de force in Adam Seers monologue Cute where we meet Ed, who has taken to Grindr after being unexpectedly dumped, choosing to fill the void by living his life in a “foggy mess of cum and anxiety”.
If the evening had ended there I would have already been more than satisfied, but what followed in Ian Townsends contribution, B for Bertie, Q For Queenie, took the evening to even greater heights, David K. Whiting and Anna Windups performances being nothing short of sublime in the roles of an aged couple who meet after years of being apart. A definite highlight of the evening, it was inspiring for a trans story to be attributed to the lived experience of an elderly couple, whilst at the same time being a masterclass in acting and writing. Unfortunately for the final play, Friday Night Queues, the evening had definitely already peaked, but Nikki Hills play did allow the night to end with plenty of laughs, albeit through performances that felt slightly more caricature than character based.
Whilst it might be the case that a couple of the plays didn’t quite make it to a solid 5 stars individually, it would be hard to fault such an exceptional night of new and original queer theatre that is not only a return to form for Full Disclosure Theatres fantastic showcase evening, but is quite possibly their best one yet. With a summer event promised for the Pride season I urge you to beg, borrow or steal a ticket. Nights this entertaining don’t come around very often, and whilst it still feels almost criminal that these events remain a ‘for one night only’ experience, you’ll be kicking yourself if you miss it.
★★★★★