Sexual charades: Charlie Brooks (Kelly) with Ralph Aiken (Ryan – left) and Jason Durr (Matthew). Photo credit: Kim Hardy
Play: Contact.com
Theatre: Park Theatre
Playwright: Michael Kingsbury
Director: Ian Brown
Review by Maria Teresa Sette
The world premiere of Michael Kingsbury’s Contact.com at Park Theatre is a fun, light-hearted sex comedy-drama which rummages through the emotional consequences of a promiscuous game of partner-swapping by two London couples.
It is dinner time in a stylish apartment in Islington, where 40-something, middle-class professional Matthew (Jason Durr) and his wife Naomi (Tanya Franks) are nervously waiting for the arrival of a younger couple they have never met before. They posted an advert on an online dating site, requesting a younger couple for a night of sexual pleasure.
Stuck in a routine, middle-aged psychiatrist Matthew and charity worker Naomi hope that a night of “bravery that encompasses spiritual enquiry” (as Matthew pompously describes it) will help them regain a bit of lost chemistry.
The couple joining them on their sexual quest are twentysomething Ryan (Ralph Aiken) and Kelly (Charlie Brooks). South London based and working class, they are in debt, facing eviction and see this experiment as a chance to financially exploit Matthew and Naomi. These two hugely different couples falter in their small talk as they move around the elegantly styled living room, beautifully created on Park Theatre’s main stage by designer Janet Bird.
Two social classes and contrasting London accents help set the humorous tone of the play. The characters’ stereotypical traits are exaggerated for easy laughs, but also offer a revealing portrait of two very different worlds living in the same city.
As food is served and wine poured at the dinner table, a few more insights into the characters’ lives and sexual diversion are revealed. Articulate and pedantic Matthew lets rip with his leftist ramblings over “the need to change the culture of worthy entitlement to worthy empowerment”. Ryan, on the other hand, tries desperately to sound like a foodie while complementing Naomi’s sauce: “The Pernod’s there, but not there. It respects the mushroom and knows it’s the dominant taste”.
By the second half of the play, director Ian Brown speeds up the pace as what was supposed to be a one off one-night stand gets out of hand. Secrets are disclosed and unresolved issues unearthed, eventually presenting both couples with a reality they hadn’t seen before – or anticipated. “What has kept us together?” asks Naomi as she crumbles in emotional pain. “Companionship? Continuity?” Matthew replies.
The four strong cast give a fine and spirited performance, which compensates for a superficial script that lacks depth. Contact.com is a far from challenging or thought-provoking piece. What it does offer is two hours of light-hearted distraction.