Issy Cory
Household comedy name Rodney Black is about as controversial as they get. Bolstered by his sycophantic Agent, he is constantly challenged to be bolder, darker, and more problematic by the minute. Until one joke goes too far. Sound familiar?
Always in the room, lurking in the shadows, is Woman. A sinister reminder of how language can be used as a weapon, to incite something more than just laughter. Can Rodney bring his reputation back from the brink of collapse, or will he be forever #Cancelled?
This is an absolute sucker-punch of a script. Writer Sadie Pearson has an insane ability to hold two very different worlds in her hands, that of the repulsive Rodney Black, teeming with violent misogyny, and that of Woman, poetic, troubled and all too human.
As characters go, you couldn’t get more range, and each one is performed with an intense energy. Bertie Taylor-Smith is the perfect boarding school boy turned hungry money-grabber as Agent. Whilst Ben Willows is uncomfortably good at playing the nauseating comedian, pushing us until we can’t help but look away.
Watching on, like a hawk, is Woman, played by Merida Beasley. Watching our every reaction, testing to see what we laugh at, and what we find too abhorrent. Her mere presence holds us all to account in a way that feels targeted, and powerful. She acts as a painful tribute to the terrible actions that have happened on account of Black’s rhetoric.
Although the blocking could have been a little sharper, and the set could have been a little less stage-left heavy, the transitions between scenes are timed flawlessly. The structure is set up to guide us through the story, waving together both Woman’s memories, and Black’s disgusting stand-up snippets. The contrast is staggering.
Gradually merging two timelines, bringing Woman’s victimhood right into the centre of the action, is massively relevant in this post-Sarah Everard era. As much as Rodney would like to believe otherwise, we cannot separate violent words or violent ‘characters, from actual violence. One begets the other.
Full Frontal Theatre’s production confronts the touchy subject of what is and isn’t on the cards for a paid funny person to say, and pushes it to the extreme. It is bold. It is in-yer-face. It will make your jaw drop.
Recommended Drink: Whiskey. Neat.
You can catch Rodney Black: Who Cares? It’s Working at Nip at Gilded Balloon Patter House from Aug 19-25 at 19:40. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake Mace
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
