NSFW

Booby Trap

NSFW

by Lucy Kirkwood

Teddington Theatre Club at Hampton Hill Theatre until 9^th November  

Review by Louis Mazzini  

NSFW is a comedy by Lucy Kirkwood, one of Britain’s leading playwrights.  First seen at the Royal Court in 2012, the play focuses on the position of women in the media and how that position reflects the attitudes of men – and women – generally.  Twelve years on, the play has been revived by Teddington Theatre Club at Hampton Hill Theatre in a new production directed by TTC newbie Matt Dennis. 

A play of two halves, the first act of NSFW is set in the offices of Doghouse, an unsubtly named “lads mag” – there are articles but its editor, Aidan, is keen to keep a sharp focus on the magazine’s core offering to readers – boobs, boobs and more boobs.  Aidan is supported by his three assistants, trustafarian Rupert, self-serving Charlotte and Sam, the play’s closest thing to a moral compass. 

As the magazine’s slimy, grimy editor, Ian Kinane radiates calm while laying down the rules, and possibly more, in the office.  Compelling, Kinane is a tiger, gentle and suave but step on his toes and … Aidan’s assistant, Charlotte, is played by Chloe Hunkin, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as her character knowingly does what has to be done to get through the day and to keep paying the rent while dealing with “a few tits along the way”.  Richard Scott gives a rumbustious performance as Rupert, a Tim-nice-but-dim character all too familiar to anyone who has ever met a feckless child of the filth rich, while Danny Maurice, as Sam, has the most to play with and gives a very strong performance as a steady young man who is ready to learn from his mistakes, but is all too happy, eventually, to make even more.

Day to day life at Doghouse comes sharply off the rails when Rupert discovers that the winner of the magazine’s “local lovelies” competition, Carrie Bradshaw (Sex in the City vibes, anyone?), is … only fourteen years old.  Aidan has a bad feeling about this.  Someone has made a mistake and someone will have to pay.  Matters get worse when Charlotte announces that the latest visitor to the magazine’s office is none other than Carrie’s father who has come across his daughter’s picture, accidentally rather than literally.  In a tense scene, the twitchily repellent Bradshaw, played powerfully by Graham Schafer, confronts Aidan.  He is her father and he intends to destroy the man who has ruined his daughter.  It’s strong stuff and a sharp contrast with the banterous opening scene. 

While where they get to may not come as a surprise, the journey is full of twists and turns as the characters, smartly portrayed by Kinane and Schafer, reach an outcome that works – more or less – for both of them.  Charlotte says little as she witnesses the battle but – a marvellously subtle and effective performance by Hunkin – the impact is clear and things will never be the same.  “Carriegate” will lead to departures from Doghouse and in the second act we discover that two have made a 180 degree switch and gone to work for Electra, a women’s magazine for “leaders, thinkers, dreamers, shoppers”, especially shoppers.  As Miranda, Electra’s mordant, flirtatious and self-loathing editor, a sublimely funny Mia Skytte demonstrates perfect timing and the ability to get humour out of almost any line as she plays with her prey.   While both acts of NSFW are very funny, it is the Electra scenes with the truly monstrous Miranda that generate the strongest laughter.  And as Sam, tempted by a force of nature to the dark side, Danny Maurice gives a sympathetic and honest portrayal while Richard Scott’s necessarily silent contribution to the second act is as memorable as it is startling.

NSFW is firmly a period piece and its once hyper-timely excoriating exposure of the hypocrisy in the media’s treatment of women has simply been blown away in the last five years.  And not in a good way.  While newspapers like the Daily Mail no longer gush routinely over the “womanly curves” of fourteen and fifteen year olds, too many of today’s young women, fake-tanned and fake-faced, seem only too ready to fall in with the latest almost always sexist “viral trend” on TikTok.  And with OnlyFans, AI and face-swap technology facilitating fantasies and revenge porn the world of Doghouse and Electra seems a long time ago in a place far, far away.  But if Kirkwood’s play has lost its relevance, it hasn’t lost any of its bite and this first class production ensures NSFW can be appreciated for what it is, a sublimely funny look at a time and place that brought us to where we are today.  Bar some minor quibbles, this welcome revival marks a very strong TTC debut for Matt Dennis and, hopefully, Richmond theatre-goers can expect to see much more from this talented young director.

Louis Mazzini, November 2024

Photography by Peter Messum