Full Frontal Theatre is a female-led company with a commitment to fighting misogyny. No surprise, then, that the most powerful moments in Sadie Pearson’s play are when actor Merida Beasley interrupts the male-dominated action to deliver impassioned and graphic accounts of violence against women.
That she is credited only as “Woman” is not an oversight. It is an ironic comment on her invisibility. As far as hate-fuelled comedian Rodney Black (Ben Willows) is concerned, she could be anyone. Whether one-night stand or admin assistant, he will not even ask her name.
She and women like her are the ones who suffer the consequences of Black’s onstage rants. He and his agent (Bertie Taylor-Smith) see his routines as edgy and provocative, testing the limits of social consensus in the name of artistic freedom. In truth, they are little more than incitements to violence. When a male fan takes him at his word and murders a stranger, Black’s career hangs in the balance.
In this way, Pearson makes the connection between men having a laugh and women being safe. Black’s material is not merely a thought experiment and his success is not merely a symptom of a culture letting off steam. The attitudes he promotes have real-world consequences.
These are weighty themes that require sensitive handling, but too often in Hen Ryan’s production, the playwright appears not to be in control of the demons she raises. Black, despite an anachronistic commitment to hand-writing letters to his fans, is one-dimensionally loathsome. In the absence of charm or laughs, he offers only bile. His agent is even more blunt in his lust for success.
Compared with the many real-life comedians who play to the lowest common denominator, Black lacks the comic chops to be anything but offensive. A well-intentioned play ends up wallowing in the very thing it is trying to challenge.
At Gilded Balloon Patter House, Edinburgh, until 25 August. Then at Arcola theatre, London, 3–5 September
