Stripped ☆☆☆☆
The Kings Head Theatre, London

Ollie is a young man in search of an exciting new experience – a challenge. That challenge is to pose for artist Lola as a life model. As the clothes come off and the poses are selected, the conversation takes a dark turn, and long repressed memories are stirred.

On the face of it Ollie is a charming, self-aware (if a bit geeky) chap. He calls himself a happy Beta Male – a careful man who avoids risk and confrontation. Lola is a bit more matter of fact and takes her profession seriously. She just wants to draw him but his incessant chatter provokes her into saying he is arrogant with a “proper job and a male saviour complex”.

Ollie makes many assumptions, not least he thinks she will judge his body as soon as his clothes are off and that is “what everyone does”. We start to think, for Ollie, the real reason for doing this are more therapeutic rather than thrill seeking.

Lola uses a timer to ensure they move on to the next pose and this helps give the first part of the play a sense of urgency and forces them to either acknowledge or move on from their subject, reminiscent of speed dating. We start with a “Vitruvian man” pose but after a particularly insensitive comment from Ollie he is asked to take a kneeling position and we start to see the balance of power starting to pivot between Lola and Ollie.

Slowly as revelations are disclosed and the power dynamic swaps around we realise this is not the coincidental meeting of two strangers here to achieve an artistic objective or provide a service for inner enlightenment. It’s a devastating account of how two people can remember the same night spent together very differently or enter a state of denial over their own actions.

Antonia Kinlay gives Lola a Zen like calm which is slowly revealed to be a protective shell and as she unpeels – her pain and distress gives the whole play its emotional centre of gravity, its heart. Any gentle laughter from audience over the show’s subtle humour has by this point truly faded away.

Charles Reston brings a strong, clear and articulate performance to the role of Ollie. Spending 90% of the time on stage naked must be a challenge to any actor but he fronts it out brilliantly, along with restrained direction by Max Elton (and Intimacy Co-ordination by Elle McAlpine!). His body language occasionally allows us to see when Ollie is less confident of his ground and Lola has the upper hand whether holding a chair in front of him or cupping himself with his hands.

Reston is able to allow you a glimpse past Ollie the charmer and give the faintest possibility of there being a very, very disturbed individual beneath that glossy black hair and flawless skin. In fact, (without revealing spoilers) the whole escapade may be the act of a trophy hunter rather than a penitent and the challenge for the audience is to see his cowardly actions for what they are and recognise that predators can often be beautiful to look at.

Directed by Max Elton and written by Hew Rous-Eyre
Produced by http://www.bitterpilltheatre.com
Runs until September 16th 2019
https://www.kingsheadtheatre.com/

REVIEW : JONNY WARD

Jonny Ward, Queerguru Contributing Editor is a drama graduate but has worked backstage for many years at venues such as The ROYAL ALBERT Hall, The 02, Southbank Centre and is currently at The National Theatre. He lives in Hoxton, London and is delighted to check out the latest, the hottest and the downright dodgy in queer culture for Queerguru. (P.S. He is currently single)  @JonnyWard360