NSFW

Synopsis

Carrie's getting them out for the lads. Charlotte's just grateful to have a job, Sam's being asked to sell more than his body and Aidan's trying to keep Doghouse from going under. Money, sex and photo-shop. Lucy Kirkwood's sharp new comedy looks at power games and privacy in the media and beyond. (NSFW - Not Safe For Work: online material which the viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as at work)

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 1 November 2012

Lucy Kirkwood's sparky new play is not about all four points of the compass with a bit missing off the "E," nor is the title a modest, self-critical acronym for "Not So Flipping Wonderful" after all; it's a reference to on-line material - "Not Safe For Work" - which might embarrass you if viewed at your desk in office, school or factory.

Actually, it's a bit of a misnomer, because the play's not really about pornography but the kind of mainstream lads' magazines that are big on bikes and breasts, and the kind of popular girls' magazines that circle flawed body parts in red ink and write crude comments in bubble captions.

Kirkwood's identified a large target about which we're all in agreement, even, I imagine, the people who read this bilge. And that's both the play's weakness and the source of its strength, in showing how the media culture weakens the resolve of the intelligent people who work within it.

In the first half (of a very short, slightly under-nourished...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 23 November 2012:

The press is an easy target at the moment and Lucy Kirkwood's slight but entertaining play has fun with the objectification of women by both genders. The first half is by far the sharper as a sleazy lad's mag editor tries to weazel out of a confrontation with the father of an underage girl whose topless photo has been published. I was a bit worried that the sympathies of some of the Royal Court audience seemed to be with the metropolitan media rather than the wronged father (see also below)and the effect was almost ruined with one horribly misjudged line given to the previously appalled female reporter. Janie Dee is in cracking form as the editor of a girl's magazine that highlights female imperfections for the gratification of its readers and the scene change features the most stunning team of stage managers anywhere in London. NSFW is a timely if slightly anodyne attack on the media but Kirkwood's targets probably won't care at all....

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