Actors who have not rehearsed or seen the script and are being fed lines through an earpiece isn’t something new to stage performance, but in the context of Good Sex at the Battersea Arts Centre it feels fresh and different.
An intimacy co-ordinator played by Liv O’Donoghue guides two actors through a story that involves ex-lovers drawn together after several years and reminiscing about their relationship.
The actors were Jack Gleeson and Phia Saban the night I saw it.
Stage managers, played by Maeve O’Mahony and Barry McKiernan, sit in a glass box feeding the lines.
The stage starts off bare, and while the actors build the story, a stage crew build the apartment around them.
Credit to the stage crew, Ciarán Murphy and Eugenia Genunchi, because they play more of a role than stage construction and handing the actors props.
And so do the stage managers who don’t simply feed lines or stay tucked away in the box.
And that’s part of what makes Good Sex unique. It’s cleverly playful, mixing reality and theatre performance. It’s layered, part instructional, part story and part experiment.
It’s subtly ironic, meta and breaks the fourth wall.
Good sex is a reference to both the intimate scenes directed by Liv O’Donoghue and the couple’s relationship as they see it. It’s a statement and a question.
What feels closest to the truth is the unrehearsed actors. The breakdown of intimate scenes is fascinating, as is watching the actors go through the process.
Tentative, slightly awkward and nervous at first, then becoming more relaxed and natural as they run through what they need to do.
And that is the point: how do you create ‘good sex’ that isn’t embarrassing and is believable? What makes intimacy good in a relationship?
Final thoughts
Fresh, imaginative, witty and clever, Good Sex had me grinning throughout. I’m giving it five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Good Sex, Battersea Arts Centre
Text by Dead Centre with Emilie Pine
Directed by Ben Kidd
Rotating cast: 4 Nov – Jack Gleeson and Phia Saban; 5 Nov – Anoushka Lucas and Lucy McCormick; 6 Nov – Khalid Abdalla and Mei Mac
Running time: 80 minutes
Booking until 6 Nov
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