This sex-positive exploration of life as a dominatrix has plenty of playful energy, but its muddled and simplistic preachiness doesn't feel very grown-up. Rating
Ok
It seems an unwritten rule that fringe festivals feature sex work. Quite right, too. Sex workers are genuinely underrepresented, so the more the merrier, I say. Unleashed is, at least, a welcome contribution to the trend. It promises to lift an unflinching and explicit lid on the comings and goings of a dominatrix and her clients. So far, so exciting. Of course, excitement will only get you so far. Minds immeasurably superior to mine have long debated the politics of earning a living through sexuality, but we can all agree that shows that simply shock or feel prurient rarely feel satisfactory. Nobody likes to feel cheap and used, do they? Well, some do, I suppose. But, hey, I am not here to judge.
Except I am, of course. It’s the reviewer’s job to review. So, here goes. Unleashed starts well. Nathan Dowling, who directs too, proves a fun, silent fetish-gear-wearing clown. He scampers on to lead a few minutes of opening audience participation. In which, dear reader, I took part. Since you ask, I studiously wet-wiped a series of sex toys that, let’s just say, grew in ambition. The show that follows, however, is an unfortunate mess that never settles on a form or a message beyond broad sex-positivity. Yay! There’s a loose central narrative. We learn that a dominatrix (Siobhan Healey) is estranged from her teenage daughter because sex work is – be prepared for the twist – seen as shameful by some. Boo! We meet clients, played by Dowling with some questionable broad accent choices, and there’s also a friend, a guardian angel, with a terminally ill partner to learn handy life lessons from. These storytelling snatches are merely moments long, and often clunky. The dialogue is often on the nose, and the direction relies too much on characters bumping into each other in the supermarket to land as remotely believable.
The narrative element runs alongside instructive fourth-wall-defying direct address and more audience participation led by Healey. Her lessons are pro-kink and sex work friendly, but feel unnecessarily sanitized and quickly become one-note. Sex positivity! Yay! Again! It’s all mostly fun, but there are quite a few claims that don’t really stand up to scrutiny. Would embracing the task at hand and paying for sex more openly actually reduce toxic masculinity for future generations? This feels problematically optimistic. The presentation style is naïve, unintellectual, and super keen, as if a Blue Peter presenter had made a bold new career move. And, to a degree, why not? Despite the 18+ guidance in the show’s marketing, there’s little that would shock your average teenager here.
Frankly, we could have definitely had more sex. If one of the large dildos from the opening (poor choice of words, I know) had been thrust at us more forcefully, I might have gained a more visceral understanding of the implications of being a dominatrix. As it stands, I’m not really much the wiser. Okay, sex work is a difficult job to combine with family life, and it’s important to be safe, have boundaries, and not to judge anyone for their choices. I knew that before watching a busy, but unfocused hour of theatre, though. For all the enthusiasm poured into it, Unleashed doesn’t actually say very much at all.
Written by Siobhan Healey
Directed by Nathan Dowling
Unleashed plays at the Etcetera Theatre until Saturday 15 August as part of the Camden Fringe.
