Hardcore
Материал с ресурса Дневники: Люк Эванс
HARDCORE opens with Craig (Luke Evans), chiselled skin flick actor,
wearing his winter coat, telling us why he’s top of his game.
The real problem
with this show is the title (writes Tim Passmore). A play about gay
porn called 'Hardcore' sounds as if it should be gritty and verité. But
Hardcore isn't. It’s fluff.
Entertaining fluff, mind. The show delivers plenty of laughs and eye-candy to
its target audience. There are no women in the theatre.
The play follows four male performers through the making of a skin-flick.
They're paid a paltry £200 a scene and no royalties. The film crew and the
people raking in the profits aren't shown. So the show dodges the issue of
exploitation, featured in films like Boogie Nights and The People Versus Larry
Flynt.
Happily, the boys themselves make diverting company for the evening. Craig, a
seasoned veteran of two previous films, and Martin - a wide-eyed provincial
youngster - are the focus of the piece. Their characters are mostly well-drawn.
Craig's toughness and Martin's charm provide the play's essential frisson -
both sexual and dramatic.
The others are a bit more two-dimensional. Robert is a suited city-boy living
with an unattractive older man. He comes to porn looking for some
extra-curricular excitement. Kevin is an unsuccessful actor trying to pad out
his woeful acting CV. He's allegedly straight, but more flaky than the combined
cast of Muriel's Wedding.
The plotting unfolds at a leisurely pace, to facilitate the exploration of
character. But the need for a climax in the second half produces some
implausible twists.
Martin’s All About Eve switch from ingenue to hardened pro has no preparation.
On the other hand the preparation for Craig’s sudden breakdown is perfunctory.
The suggestion is that a gammy knee suddenly reminds Craig of his first
non-cottaging sexual attraction, causing his hardened persona to unravel. This
doesn't convince. Nothing before suggests that there's anything left inside him
except this tough shell.
One of the show's best things is the restrained but effective treatment of
sexuality. In contrast to the cockfest Up4ameet? (Oval Playhouse 2003), the
cast keep their briefs on.
There's no explicit sex, although there are a couple of 'rehearsals'. The actual shoot is inventively shown with the performers isolated and facing
front. A collage of thrusts, moans and thought-bites brilliantly conveys the
characters' mix of nervous excitement and detachment.
Formative sex experiences are recalled through obvious simulation. This works
well: it makes the sex part of the play's schematic structure. It avoids
cynically trading on the 'are-they-or-aren’t-they?' shock value of Mark
Ravenhill. A sex-act is invoked, the eroticism is plain, but so is what's going
on within the characters.
There's pacy dialogue. The jokes amuse, if a bit predictably. The
internal-flashback monologues don't succeed as well. They're too similar rhythmically
- all short phrases and epigrams. The uniformity of style soon tires.
The staging could work harder to define the moments when characters switch into
memory mode. More abrupt lighting changes or musical underscoring would achieve
this. At times it is difficult to be certain what is real and what is
remembered.
Luke Evans is charismatic in his tough-guy role. Phil Matthews admirably keeps
his character Martin attractive without becoming sickeningly sweet. Simon
Thomas is dippy but not too annoying as the sexually unsure Kevin - and sports
an utterly convincing Welsh accent in one of the flashback sequences.
Christopher Redmond delivers a classic repressed-public-schoolboy - serving the
stereotypically-written character perfectly.
So, then, good performances, but the play ought to be better. Overall, the
piece fails really to explore why these characters want to be filmed having
sex. Just seeking novelty or a quick two hundred quid seem pat explanations.
Seedier aspects of pornography, including drug abuse, are also ignored.
The overall effect is strangely wholesome. One character’s mention of Enid
Blyton is unfortunate, because that's just what this play feels like. An Enid
Blyton version of a porn docu-drama. Something in the title should have
indicated this.
Cast Credits (alpha order): Luke Evans – Craig. Phil Matthews –
Martin, Ingenue. Christopher Redmond – Robert. Simon Thomas – Kevin, Straight.
Company Credits: Writer – Jonathan Hall. Director - Russell Labey.
Designer- Jason Denvir. Lighting Designer - Richard House. Music - Leon Parris.
Stage Manager - Naomi Lee. General Manager - Guy Chapman, Kate Graham-Campbell
(Guy Chapman Associates), assisted by Sophie Curtis. Marketing - Mathew Smith
(Guy Chapman Associates). Press - Kevin Wilson (KWPR). Graphic Design - Andrew
Newsom. Design Photography - Robert Workman.
END
(c) Tim Passmore 2004
reviewed Sunday 11 July 04 / Pleasance Theatre / London
Fringe Report
(c) Fringe Report 2002-2013