Tasteless Revival of 1996 'Muddle' of Sex and Drugs
Penny Flood is not impressed with the Lyric's latest production
Whatever made The Lyric think a revival of Mark Ravenhill's 1996 play, Shopping & F***ing, was a good idea? When it comes to revivals there are plenty of good writers out there - Brecht, Wesker, Arden, Shaw, even John Osborne at a push, so why they chose this dated, unpleasant muddle of sex and drugs that isn't as funny or as clever as it thinks it is, is a mystery.
I didn't see this play when it first opened so I don't know if it was as shocking and groundbreaking as was claimed, but I doubt it.
Alex Arnold as Robbie; image by Helen Murray
Sure there's bisexuality, but the Rocky Horror Show covered that in style in the seventies, sure there's nudity, but Hair sorted that in the sixties, and as for the language, you can hear much stronger in any piece of new writing at The Bush.
There's nothing new here, just relentless bad taste, which very quickly becomes tedious , not helped by clunking techno-heavy direction. The stage is dominated by two huge screens showing all sorts of images, some live action captured by strategically placed camcorders and some pre-recorded footage including some psychedelic, X-rated porn, which may have raised eyebrows last century.
Ashley McGuire as Brian; image Helen Murray
The sad thing is there's a potentially interesting plot just beneath the surface, but it never quite makes it above the disjointed script and set pieces that don't add anything. As for example when Mark boasts about having sex with Princess Diana and the Duchess of York in a men's toilet. That's about as good as it gets.
The story that struggles to be heard above the techno clamour, misplaced humour and sheer nastiness - there's a lot of blood and vomit - is that of four young people looking for love and security in a world hostile to anyone without money.
Lulu (Sophie Woo), Robbie (Alex Arnold) and Mark (Sam Spruell) are in a drug fuelled ménage a trois until Mark goes into rehab to sort himself out. Lulu gets a job selling cocaine on a television shopping channel and Robbie gets a job selling ecstasy at a night club. Sadly, in a burst of ecstasy-addled driven altruism, he gives it all away and the two of them end up owing money to Brian (Ashley McGuire), part drug baron, part prophet and part guardian angel, and a thoroughly nasty piece of work. So they have to get jobs in order to pay her (Brian is a woman) back ,and they start on a downward spiral as telephone sex workers.
Then Mark comes back with rent boy Gary (David Moorst) in a box. Gary is the most complex character with some of the best lines and if things had slowed down a bit his problems could have been explored, but his story. like everything else, gets overwhelmed by the clamour and clanking.
To be fair, the point at which it should have ended could have been disturbing had it not been signalled from long way out, so that when Mark went through the door, it was obvious what was going to happen. It was horrible and squared a circle because of something that happened early on. I'm not going to say what it was as it was horrible.
Sadly that wasn't the end, it carried on and on, sinking to new lows and ending with a chorus of youngsters singing 'Something Inside's so Strong' as Brian jigged around trying to make it funny.
It 's only 97 minutes, but it felt like much, much longer.
Penny Flood
October 17, 2016