Drama
Sadly not about dildo-wielding midgets, though Bernie's (Christopher Ryan Richards) fantastic claims about his sex life may have us think twice, David Mamet's 'Sexual Perversity In Chicago' portrays the absurdity of man's faith in independence, exposed by the bizarrely destructive force of love.
At a neighbourhood bar, Danny (Ian Hughes), a swinging '70s single man, meets Deborah (Emma Campbell Webster). Sharing a preference for casual sex over commitment, they go home together for a night of meaningless sex. Although they desire to keep their independence, Danny and Deborah's relationship quickly becomes involved, the irrational fear of dependency creating tensions in their relationship. Emotionally devastated, they both attempt to move on while realising that they may have traded in something more valuable in exchange for their supposed freedom.
The play is vibrant and snappy, moving quickly from location to location in a series of vignettes. To avoid innumerable scene changes, Andrew Leveson and Martin Roe have directed the play in promenade - the audience walk around and change their position as and when the action shifts around them. There is good use of audience interaction, which, far from being gimmicky, serves to foreground the uncontrollable nature of certain complex emotions: prepare to be embarrassed by accusations of fondling your fellow audience member's genitals.
Set and costumes are colourfully '70s, with music from Thin Lizzy, Leo Saywer and Wild Cherry, and wonderfully brash American accents complement strong performances. The production is fast moving, raucous and well worth a visit.
'Sexual Perversity In Chicago' is running alongside 'Duck Variations' as a David Mamet double bill at the BT
Plays involving Kafka usually scare me due to their rather heavy-going reputation. Thankfully, Alan Bennett's play 'Kafka's Dick' is exactly the opposite. The dying Kafka famously asked his friend Max Brod to burn everything that he had ever written. The two men are reborn in the living room of a Kafka enthusiast at the end of the 20th century; Kafka is annoyed to find that Brod never did burn the books and that intellectuals have spent the past 80 years picking over his works. The play is full of clever twists, such as Kafka arriving at the house in the shape of a pet tortoise.
Augustus Rylands' direction is very competent, although 'Kafka's Dick' needs little manipulation to make it shine. The performances of the actors are not without fault; Joseph Grant possesses the right physical attributes to play Kafka (I'm talking external features here - I wouldn't know if he shares Kafka's lack of inches) although his performance is slightly lifeless; Brian Mullin's energetic performance as Brod makes up for any lack of vigour. The remote-control tortoise, though, is the real star of the show.
Essentially, 'Kafka's Dick' is good fun. It makes a serious point about our intrusion into the privacy of the dead but it also has an utterly bizarre, slightly dirty sense of humour that will appeal to all students. It may be on the small side, but 'Kafka's Dick' left me with a smile on my face.
It is a well-known fact that amateur dramatic companies suffer from a lack of young actors and student productions suffer from a lack of older actors. Local dance teacher Jackie Kears has had the crafty idea of bringing students and local amateur actors together in her theatre company, ODT Productions. She has directed numerous plays and musicals in Oxford over the past 14 years and is now back at the OFS with 'The Winter's Tale'.
Kears likes to work in traverse to increase contact between audience and cast. Impressive use is made of this format and the actors are not afraid to make eye contact. The first half of this production is set in the 1980s and the second half is set in the present day. Aiming to create a party atmosphere for the meeting of Perdita and Florizel, the second half is set at the Glastonbury festival, complete with a live band and hippie outfits. Kears feels that setting Shakespeare in the present makes it easier to extract the central meaning of the play. However, giving this play such a cliché-ridden setting as the Glastonbury festival creates inconsistencies that only serve to frustrate an audience.
The acting of the half-student, half-local cast is of a high standard, although some individuals verge towards overacting. It is refreshing to see real men playing men's parts, bringing deeper voices and greater stature to their characters. The mixture of age groups makes the relationships between characters more convincing and intense.
'The Winter's Tale' is a very professionally executed production that has more polish than most student drama. However, for all its proficiency 'The Winter's Tale' did not draw me in and make me sympathise with it.
2nd May 2002