EXCERPT: “despite the lack of originality, with the help of a fun and fast script and strong comedic performances from a stellar cast, NSFW satisfies its entertainment quota plus gives a little more.”
NSFW, Lucy Kirkwood’s new play, stands for Not Safe For Work (online material which the viewer may not want to be seen accessing at work). The two acts are set a year apart or so, and both examine power games and privacy in the media. In allegiance to other Royal Court downstairs programming choices, it does perhaps err a little too much on the entertaining rather than cerebral side, but the choice of subject matter is sufficiently topical to excuse the play’s lack of insightful development. Kirkwood’s script is an unforgiving exposition of the ruthlessness of the media’s leaders and its requirements for survival. Her candid acknowledgement of how over-qualified young professionals are for the degrading tasks and jobs they are forced to take is both truthful and pertinent and, despite the lack of originality, with the help of a fun and fast script and strong comedic performances from a stellar cast, it satisfies its entertainment quota plus gives a little more.
The first act presents us with the scenario that a 14 year old girl has had, unbeknownst to her, a topless photo sent in to a lads’ magazine and featured on its front cover. Her irate father, played sensitively and with pathetic powerlessness by Kevin Doyle, is bribed out of taking legal action by the sleaziest of editorial shmucks, Julian Barratt as Aidan, who flits between sanctimony and deference as he cunningly negotiates the compromising situation he finds himself in.
The second act sees Sam (Sacha Dhawan) interview for a position at a glamour magazine after having been fired from his previous job at the lads’ mag (he was responsible for publishing the photo of the 14 year old). Although this section raises some parallels between the objectification of women that takes place in both men and women’s magazines, it is a shame that Kirkwood’s clearly feminist agenda hasn’t been developed much for this act. Furthermore, the notion that the interviewer - played with sexy elegance by an intoxicatingly narcissistic Janie Dee - would spend so much time on an interviewee who won’t play game seems ludicrous. Even more so when Dhawan portrays his character as so wet behind the ears, commanding neither professional or personal respect. The rest of the cast, which includes Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Esther Smith, are beyond reproach however, and Simon Godwin’s directing is seamless.
No comments:
Post a Comment