Pornography

Alex Marlowe as Jason

For those of you that don’t know SEDOS they are one of the countries best amateur dramatic groups. After seeing several of their productions and reviewing their shows for other publications I was thrilled when they asked me to come along and review Pornography by Simon Stephens, for this blog.

In coming to watch the show all I knew was that it had something to do with the London 7/7 bombings. In actual fact it tells 6 distinct stories focusing on peoples lives in the lead up to the bombing and on the actual day itself, with most not being directly involved in the bombings. It is an interesting portrait of England at the time and we follow stories of siblings forming an incestuous relationship, a student obsessed with his teacher, a working mum, a lecturer making a move on a former student, a lonely elderly lady and finally one of the bombers.

In walking into the theatre you are immediately immersed into SEDOS’ vision. The 8 actors are already on stage, sat in their own world, facing the audience with a backpack taking centre stage. Each of them appear to be telling the story of the victims of the bombing and as the lights go down you are faced with a wall of noise as these stories all appear to collide. This was the perfect way to plunge the audience into the show and immediately sets the right tone for the rest of the show.

The cast of Pornography was very strong and it is very difficult to single anyone out for individual praise. Minnie Rose and Alex Woolley playing the siblings however succeeded in making me feel hugely uncomfortable in watching their sexual relationship develop which speaks volumes as to how convincing their relationship was. Elizabeth Stevens also did a very convincing job of playing an elderly lady with her persistent tremor however I do wonder why they could have not have got someone more age appropriate to play the role?

The show was presented very well with minimalist set and effective floor lighting which allowed the setting to change from an office to the underground instantly and made the show flow well.

I do admire how versatile SEDOS can be from stunning productions of musicals such as Tick Tick Boom (see my Sardines review) to clever and infrequently performed plays such as Pornography.

For more information about SEDOS, Pornography and their upcoming shows you can check out their website here. Pornography is on until the 30th January at the Bridewell Theatre.