I really enjoyed F**king Men, and the play was really good too….A witty, fun, enjoyable show that will titillate and entertain (as long as male nudity does not scare you)
F**king Men is a dramatic comedy written by Joe DiPietro currently playing at the Waterloo East Theatre. First premiering in 2009 at the Kings Head Theatre, this show has gone through many different iterations with varying cast sizes and some updating of the script in order to keep it current and relevant. This most recent production will be playing at the Waterloo East Theatre until the 18th June.
The provocative name of this show, coupled with the marketing featuring 4 naked men, really does make quite clear that this play is going to involve gay sex. However, this play is far more than just an excuse to just see naked men on stage (even if some of the advertising may have you thinking the opposite). Sex is obviously an important part of the story, but this show explores the interesting moments before and after, rather than the sex itself. There are a fair few sex scenes, but they do not feel gratuitous and last mere seconds before we move back on to dialogue. And the dialogue in this script is excellent. It is witty, at times hilarious, and thoroughly entertaining.
This production features 4 actors, each of whom play multiple characters. Apart from some slightly dodgy American accents, the performances were all excellent. A particular highlight has to be the scene stealing performance of Derek Mitchell as the eccentric playwright and uptight tutor. He brought brilliant comedic levity to the scenes he features in and had the entire audience howling with laughter. This makes his turn to a slightly more sinister character especially jarring and brilliant.
The set by Cara Evans, and the lighting design by Alex Lewer were really clever. The stage was split in 2 diagonally by clear glass panes that were somehow able to change from opaque to transparent in an instant. I was shocked and amazed by this but the rest of the audience did not seem as impressed as I was, so maybe this wasn’t proof of witchcraft but just some technology I was unfamiliar with. Either way, this was used to great effect to help separate different scenes as well as show flashes of characters at strategic moments. The lighting worked really well to show different scenes and transition between them. All in all, faultless.
The script and dialogue of this show really are the highlight with the comedic moments being especially strong. However, some of the darker more serious scenes did not quite ring true for me and seemed overly concocted and rushed. Given the nature of the show, being a collection of mini scenes post or pre sex, this is perhaps understandable, but it meant that some of the emotional gravitas was taken out of moments as they did not have enough time to breathe and develop into something truly emotionally impactful. They were not bad scenes or moments by any means, but they were not able to match the brilliance of the more light hearted sections and did not hit hard enough to show a significant contrast.
This show has been updated from its initial run, and as someone not familiar with the previous versions, these updates have been slotted in previously. I was entirely unable to ascertain which scenes or lines were new, and which had always been there. This show does touch on important topics such as monogamy vs open relationships, the emptiness of hook-up culture, loss, the Me-Too movement, and coming out, but it never comes across as preachy. It is merely characters experiencing their lives that we are getting glimpses into. This show does not represent the vast variety of gay experiences, but it also is not trying to. It is focusing on urban gay men of various ages who are all conventionally attractive and prone to hook-ups. There are of course many gay men that will feel that this show does not represent their lives, but also many gay men who will think that it does. It shows what it focuses on very well and it would be unfair to expect a one act play about a specific subset of gay men to have to be instantly representative of all gay men. But this show does touch on universal themes of loss, love, and loneliness which means that I think there is something in this show that everyone will be able to relate to in one way or another.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this show and was thoroughly entertained throughout. It is not for the faint hearted, but if you don’t mind male nudity and frank discussions around and depictions of gay sex, then this is definitely a show I’d recommend.