Patrick Galligan, Ian D. Clark & Jessica Greenberg
Reviewed by James Karas
NSFW is a fast-paced
satire by Lucy Kirkwood that is receiving its Canadian premiere at The Theatre
Centre. It takes on several issues and the result is a entertaining and
intriguing night at the theatre. The acronym stands for Not Safe for Work which
is internet lingo for what to avoid watching during office hours and that is: soft porn.
Aidan (Patrick Galligan) is the
ruthless editor of a trashy magazine called Doghouse. He bullies his staff into
going to the Arctic or writing sleazy articles about themselves and acts like
an arrogant jerk. The cover of the latest issue has the photograph of a topless
girl which was submitted by one of the
magazine’s readers. Unfortunately the girl is only 14 and Sam (Aaron Stern), an
editorial assistant, obtained her consent by fraud.
All hell breaks loose when the
girl’s father, Mr. Bradshaw (Ian D. Clark), arrives threatening to ruin the
magazine and the editor.
Aidan has two other employees, a
straight-faced assistant, Charlotte (Jessica Greenberg) and a skittish writer
named Rupert (James Graham). Most of the first half of the 90-minute play is
taken up with the ferocious argument between Aidan and Mr. Bradshaw about the
morality of publishing the photograph, the attempts to bribe the father and threats
and counterthrusts between the two men.
The second half of the play
presents the obverse of the first. We are in the office of Electra, a trashy
magazine for women run by Miranda (Susan Coyne). The magazine is ostensibly
concerned with women’s beauty, perhaps perfection, however that may be
achieved. Sam lost his job at Doghouse
many months ago and she is interviewing him for a job. She seems to be nuts if not
a psychopath as she belittles, humiliates and plays games with the hapless Sam.
She has already hired and done
the same thing to Rupert by having him try beauty enhancing products like Botox.
Galligan has to speak at
breakneck speeds as he tries to put down Bradshaw. The argument teeter totters
with Bradshaw and Aidan getting the upper hand in one turn and being bulldozed
in the next. Galligan has the toughest role in the play. He has to go through a
gamut of stages as he tries to crush Clark’s character who takes a high moral
tone until he is reduced to bargaining about the size of the bribe. Very good
work by the two actors.
Coyne establishes dominance over
Stern’s Sam and has him wiggling like a small fish on a large hook. She is very
good as the domineering, superficially classy, bitchy, funny and, as I said,
perhaps psychotic editor. Stern is very credible as the squirming, unemployed
wimp who tries to save some of his dignity until he is crushed.
The play is set in England and it
opened at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2012. Canadian actors have a
perennial problem in achieving an English accent and the problem persisted in
this production. They all tried but the result was uneven.
Director Joel Greenberg wasted no
time in setting a high-speed production in motion. The speed is modulated
especially in the second act and we get the laughs, the satire, and the dark
side of publishing. If watching certain sites on the internet during work is
not safe, having a boss like Aidan or Miranda is nothing short of disastrous.
Go see the play.
___
NSFW (Not Safe for Work) by Lucy Kirkwood opened on November 7
and will play until November 30, 2014 at The Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen St.
West, Toronto, Ontario. www.theatrecentre.org
Tel: 416 538-0988
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