FITTER ☆☆☆☆
SOHO THEATRE, LONDON
Heading off to a deconstruction of masculinity on a cold December night is not everyone’s idea of a festive treat. Thankfully instead of a smash n grab on a boy’s crown jewels Mary Higgins and Ell Potter have written a funny, and in parts incredibly moving ‘love letter to masculinity which they are forever tearing up and taping back together again’.
Based on recorded interviews about masculinity with cis men, trans-men, and masculine presenting people the responses are presented in a mix of lip syncing, satire, and that buttock clenching term interpretative dance. Which in this case was a hilarious and wonderful ballet on the theme of How to Douche.
After an awkward first 10 minutes trotting out cliches of masculinity as dance the quality of the writing starts to get an upper hand. The interviews become laced with Higgins and Potters own thoughts and feelings. Some of them are funny, as bisexual women they drily note that ‘a bigger net doth not a better fish catch’. Others are more complex, they confess it was hard not to be attracted to the honesty of the men they interviewed. It is all done from the female perspective even though it uses the words of men. At times they are caustic ‘You have been let down by a disappointing man. It’s very common’ but without skirting into bitterness.
The men talk about their health, sexuality, body hair, masturbation and self-image. They more than touch on the ins and outs of their anuses, which for some of them could warrant their own spin off show. The recorded voices are authentic, surprising and natural and so we start to see why Higgins and Porter had the response they did.
The very best parts of the show are when the performers talk about themselves. In one case it’s about dealing with heartbreak and the struggle coming to terms with being dumped by someone who is “unfortunately not a cunt”. In the other it is an astonishing recount of surviving an attempted rape. In this one section of the show, preceded by a trigger warning, the writing and the performance is stunning. The performer uses words that have the descriptive power of poetry without introducing any kind of artifice that distances the audience from the horror of what is being described. It is all heart and honesty. They could have stopped the show for a standing ovation right there.
Despite the gut punches the show still manages to be, as it says, a love letter. It is so intimate that it feels like reading over someone’s shoulder. It is done, however, in an enjoyably naughty way and with enough humor to salvage the heartbreak
https://sohotheatre.com/shows/fitter/
Review by Andrew Hebden
Queerguru Correspondent Andrew Hebden is a MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day.
