BWW Reviews: STRAIGHT, Crucible Studio, 6 Nov 2012

Straight, the new play from DC Moore, is actually based on a 2009 American indie film, Humpday (written and directed by Lynn Shelton) - however, the settings and characters have been updated to 2012 and moved this side of the Atlantic, along with a few subtle story changes.

The play has four characters: Lewis (Henry Pettigrew), his wife Morgan (Jessica Ransom), Lewis's old university friend, Waldorf (Philip McGinley) and a girl Waldorf meets in a shop for 'stuff', Steph (Jenny Rainsford).  We open in Lewis and Morgan's tiny studio flat as they talk about preparing to start a family - only their future plans are interrupted by the arrival of Waldorf, back in the country after seven years' travelling and planning to stay a while...

Waldorf's arrival causes Lewis to question himself and how staid and traditional his life is.  This questioning is exacerbated by the arrival of Steph, a skunk-smoking free spirit who regales Lewis and Waldorf with tales of her time at 'the Humpfest', where people film themselves in amateur porn, play it and then burn the tapes (although... tapes?  In 2012??).

A drunken night out with Steph and Waldorf leads to Lewis making a Humpfest related bet... and then having to deal with the implications for himself, his marriage and his friendship of seeing that bet through.

The play is raucously funny - although the faint-hearted should note that is chock-full of swearing and sexual references - and sometimes the laughter was so loud that the actors' next lines couldn't be heard over it.  It's also got a very serious side, and the intimacy  of the Studio Theatre, where the seats are so close to the action it's as if you're in the room with the characters, means these scenes are charged with intense emotion and the audience who moments earlier had been howling with laughter, were rendered totally silent at these points - credit to both Richard Wilson's direction and all four performers.

As for the design, the sound effects and music are used well to create a believable tone, and the set represents an all-too-believable studio flat, replete with IKEA-esque touches, and is totally transformed into the location for the second half for which the set designer (James Cotterill), stage manager (Sarah Gentle) and set team need full credit.  

The problems with this production, although minor, lie in the play itself.  The situation is a little contrived and happens all-too quickly.  The characters could, in inexperienced hands, turn into caricatures (for example, Waldorf, the hippy traveller, comes replete with floppy hat, scruffy beard and leather brcelets) - although fortunately in this version there is always something beyond the surface in all characters that saves them from this fate.  

Overall, however, this was a fresh and vibrant piece and well worth seeing if you're interested in questions about how our culture thinks about sex, love, marriage and friendship and you're not easily offended.

Straight is at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield, until Sat 24 November

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