Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight
Three couples (two straight, one gay) find themselves suddenly within each
other’s orbit at 3 in the morning when the coitus of one of them is suddenly
interrupted by a throwaway remark.
Since the woman Nancy (Lucy Akhurst) cries out to her lover Ben (James
Callis), “Do me! Do me!! Do me!! Do me!!! Do me!!! Do me you hook-nosed
Jew!”, as she climaxes, it’s no wonder he’s put off his stride.
That’s just one of the Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, and
Peter Ackerman‘s sex comedy quickly hits its stride as it spins a crude,
rude and often very funny play of mordant modern manners from the doubts and
insecurities that immediately arise in this relationship.
Meanwhile, on the other side of city (as they would say in Sex and the City, the Manhattan-set based television sex comedy that it superficially
resembles in its flip, smart sitcom style), Grace (Anna Francolini) is
getting her erotic thrills from the dangers of dating a hitman, Gene
(Vincenzo Nicoli). They’re on their sixth date, and she’s desperate to get
laid. He, however, is desperate to talk.
When Nancy arrives to try to sort out her relationship with friend Grace,
they enlist the help of Gene’s gay brother Mark (Patrick Baladi), who
happens to be Grace’s therapist, who in the third apartment of Laura
Hopkins’s tripartite design, is himself busy making out with an older man –
a much older man, so old in fact that even Mark refers to him as Mr Abramson
(John Rogan).
A three-way conference call follows between all the parties, and even if
Abigail Morris‘ production misses some of the text’s quirky comic
rhythms and is unduly coy for a play about sex (none of the actors
shed their underwear), it provides an entertaining diversion.
