by Christopher Shinn
seen at the Donmar Warehouse on 15 October 2015
The play, directed by Dominic Cooke and designed by Hildegard Bechtler, features Luke Newberry as Gabe, Oliver Johnstone as Drew, Matthew Marsh as the college president and Ryan McParland as Teddy.
This play depicts the contradictory and confusing attitudes surrounding campus politics as the administration attempts to deal with calls for less discrimination in the wake of a student suicide. Drew, the editor of the student newspaper, publishes an article claiming that the suicide was gay, though the issue had never before been raised. When Teddy Ferrara, a new gay student, also takes his own life, the situation becomes even more explosive.
What could have been an issues-dominated play is enriched by the personal interactions of the characters. Drew, a strong-minded not to say ruthless editor, is revealed as in some ways extremely needy, but this manifests itself in unpleasantly controlling ways, especially in his personal dealings. Gabe, his new boyfriend, is well-meaning but impressionable, and so is often dangerously out of his depth. Obviously attracted to strong characters in all spheres of his life (not just in sexual matters), he is bound to be exploited and disappointed.
Teddy Ferrara himself is not exactly the martyr that everyone wishes to make him after his death. Drew is sure that the story to tell is that Teddy's roommate filmed and streamed him covertly during a sexual encounter Teddy arranged through an internet site, but Teddy's reaction to this seems to have been rather confused, more that he wanted to control his internet presence himself, rather than that he felt persecuted by what had happened. Drew is certainly not interested in publicising the fact that Teddy's online persona was aggressively promiscuous. The final eulogy, with which the play closes, is therefore peculiarly hollow, given what we have been shown, even though its words are entirely familiar from media tributes to almost all young victims.
The set-piece meetings between the administration (president and provost) and student representatives seem in danger of ticking all the boxes, with a student cousellor, a student in a wheelchair, a transgender student and Gabe, the leader of an LGBTQ group, all present. But this group is convened simply because the president knows it is the right group to be seen to be meeting, and the divergent agendas of all present mean that personalities as much as dogmas are revealed. The counsellor is deeply hostile, and one can see why as the president gets into his stride - a tour de force by Matthew Marsh. He runs rings around the students with consummate skill.
The cast is assured at revealing their characters - their insecurities, their selfishnesses, their often wilful inability to hear what each other is saying or meaning. Their personalities have a direct impact on the situation so that they are not just mouthpieces for certain points of view. Though there are perhaps more hints of personal backstories and conflicts than can be explored or sustained within the piece, this reminds us that people and their relationships are far more complex than they are often portrayed on stage.
What could have been an issues-dominated play is enriched by the personal interactions of the characters. Drew, a strong-minded not to say ruthless editor, is revealed as in some ways extremely needy, but this manifests itself in unpleasantly controlling ways, especially in his personal dealings. Gabe, his new boyfriend, is well-meaning but impressionable, and so is often dangerously out of his depth. Obviously attracted to strong characters in all spheres of his life (not just in sexual matters), he is bound to be exploited and disappointed.
Teddy Ferrara himself is not exactly the martyr that everyone wishes to make him after his death. Drew is sure that the story to tell is that Teddy's roommate filmed and streamed him covertly during a sexual encounter Teddy arranged through an internet site, but Teddy's reaction to this seems to have been rather confused, more that he wanted to control his internet presence himself, rather than that he felt persecuted by what had happened. Drew is certainly not interested in publicising the fact that Teddy's online persona was aggressively promiscuous. The final eulogy, with which the play closes, is therefore peculiarly hollow, given what we have been shown, even though its words are entirely familiar from media tributes to almost all young victims.
The set-piece meetings between the administration (president and provost) and student representatives seem in danger of ticking all the boxes, with a student cousellor, a student in a wheelchair, a transgender student and Gabe, the leader of an LGBTQ group, all present. But this group is convened simply because the president knows it is the right group to be seen to be meeting, and the divergent agendas of all present mean that personalities as much as dogmas are revealed. The counsellor is deeply hostile, and one can see why as the president gets into his stride - a tour de force by Matthew Marsh. He runs rings around the students with consummate skill.
The cast is assured at revealing their characters - their insecurities, their selfishnesses, their often wilful inability to hear what each other is saying or meaning. Their personalities have a direct impact on the situation so that they are not just mouthpieces for certain points of view. Though there are perhaps more hints of personal backstories and conflicts than can be explored or sustained within the piece, this reminds us that people and their relationships are far more complex than they are often portrayed on stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment