Sex With Strangers

Sex With Strangers
By Laura Eason. Directed by Gabriella Rose Carter. Q44 Theatre. 550 Swan St, Richmond. 17th August -3rd September, 2016.

Q44 is a small indie theatre company that always punches above its weight. Its quirky, rabbit warren, complex welcomes you, with a foyer like no other – filled with books and paintings and a huge dining table on which a sumptuous supper (prepared by the marvellous Lily Jones) is served, accompanied by bubbles, to the first night audience.

This production is not their finest offering, but it is still exciting and innovative theatre and, despite its shoestring budget, it leaves most main stage offerings in its wake.

Playwright Eason (now a regular writer/producer on the hit series House of Cards) explores relationships in this play about a failed female writer whose integrity has stalled her career, and a younger blogger turned writer who has made a name and a fortune from a trashy book called ‘Sex with Strangers’.

At first we think we know what the agendas are, but by the end of the play we have to re-evaluate both characters and ask real questions about who is using whom. It’s also a play about loss of intimacy, and the internet replacing reality. Witty and often wry, it is much deeper than it might appear at first.

Carissa McAllen (Olivia) and Will Atkinson (Ethan) are both strong actors but one suspects they aren’t really bedded in to their best performances yet. There’s a lack of sexual tension between them, and the lovemaking seems a little tentative and prudish. Olivia should be a seething mass of repressed sexuality and Ethan, though he’s slept with hundreds of women when it meant absolutely nothing, should be swept up in the ferociousness of real sexuality he has never encountered before. On opening night it was all a bit tame and self-conscious. The play is dialogue top heavy, so those physical moments need extra weight and time to breathe.  In the tiny theatre space, the two also seemed too aware of the audience instead of losing themselves completely to the truth of what was happening to the characters.

Both characters undergo great change which wasn’t fully realised in the performances. Olivia sacrifices her integrity for a taste of what Ethan achieved so easily; Ethan finds an integrity he never knew he had. It’s clear in the text at the end of the play that, contrary to what we believed, Ethan has invested more of himself in the relationship than Olivia has, but we need to understand that through performance. Nevertheless the director has a clear vision which will unquestionably be fully realised before the end of the season. Casey-Scott Corless’ set and lighting design are a triumph, but I question the validity of the Polaroid photo effect, denoting a demarcation line between technologies. Polaroids were defunct by 2008 (invented in 1947) and past their prime by 1980s, and Olivia at 39 seems too young to be distanced from Instagram and today’s techno cultural  norm.

I can’t help thinking that the play would have more impact, and allow for more subtextual exploration of society, if Olivia were at least twenty years older than Ethan. A greater age difference throws up so many more possibilities of both emotional connection and isolation.

Having said that, applause as always to Q44 for taking risks and providing theatre-goers with gripping contemporary plays. I always look forward to their productions.

Coral Drouyn

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