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Clay at the Pleasance Theatre

April 20, 2016 by Alex Wood Leave a Comment

Review of: Clay at the Pleasance Theatre
Produced by:
Produced in Association with PLAY and Changing Face Collective
Price:
Varies

Reviewed by: Alex Wood
Rating:
2
On April 20, 2016
Last modified:April 20, 2016

Summary:

Adam Foster’s new show, Clay, currently playing at the Pleasance StageSpace, markets itself on the premise that there are ‘two sides to every story’.

More Details

Adam Foster’s new show, Clay, currently playing at the Pleasance StageSpace, markets itself on the premise that there are ‘two sides to every story’ (the story in this case being one of sexual assault) and that this was ‘a dark and caustically funny rom-com gone wrong’. This was largely misleading – to describe the events of the play as ‘rom-com gone wrong’ seem horribly misplaced.

For one, the play simply does not have the malleability that ‘Clay’ seems to suggest. The premise is simple; a duologue telling the same story – a boy sleeps with girl on one night stand, gets wrong idea, things escalate from there. Yet there simply was no more than one side to the story – the ‘boy’ never has a legitimate point, using deception and lies to essentially make his way into the girl’s bedroom. There was no grey area – it was the story of a boy not asking for permission during sex. It was, as a side point, neither ‘caustically funny’ nor a ‘rom-com’. Plays like Consensual, which recently played as part of the NYT season, at least problematised the notion of consent and sexual interaction – here the issue was, as much as Foster may not want us to think, set in stone

Director Hannah Hauer-King, having had a fantastic turn overseeing Brute, here manages to inject some life into a script that had some rhythmic difficulties – lacking the same punch as plays with similar set ups (Duncan MacMillan’s Lungs for example). This wasn’t the fault of the cast, who kept the play ticking over for the full hour – special credit must go to Katharine Drury – her facial expressions and frankness bringing genuine nuance and warmth to her character. Alex Hope, perhaps having the harder and more limited job, fulfilled the ‘socially-awkward yet relatively attractive’ role with a practical ease. Sound and lighting design were also superb and vital for the ambient setting of the play – the use of gels never being overly wrought yet subtly dealt with.

For all this, however, Foster’s Clay felt entirely unambiguous. There was nothing ambiguous about the plot, and this was by no means a ‘rom-com gone wrong’ – there was only a sad realism to proceedings. Perhaps I just didn’t get the overall message, but either way Clay felt disconcertingly unclear, and when it comes to issues of consent, a lack of clarity is certainly a part of a problem rather than a step towards a solution.

Clay will be at the Pleasance Theatre until the 24th April. 

Author: Alex WoodAlex is the former reviews editor at Theatre Bubble, but since changing position now contributes occasionally. He has been writing reviews for a number of years, as well as seeing his own shows performed. He has produced and marketed a number of performances at venues in London, Oxford, Edinburgh, including the world premiere of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke.

Filed Under: Review Tagged With: Adam Foster, Clay, Pleasance Theatre

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  • April 20th, 2016
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