Ava – Golden Goose Theatre, London

Writer: Tom Ryder

Director: Kitty Fox Davis

Ava is a story ostensibly about a woman, Jack’s girlfriend Ava, but really, it is a story told by Jack about Jack. It’s Jack’s fragility, his search for validity, respect, and legitimacy as a man. He has a mean housemate, a girlfriend whose friends look down on him, and an embarrassing inability to cook pasta. He is anxious in every situation, unable to engage in any healthy conflict to establish his self-worth, and his inner life is almost entirely misanthropic. Jack is clearly extremely unhappy, and with Ava as his only ray of sunshine, there’s a severe imbalance in their relationship. It’s a wonder what she sees in him.

Ava, written and performed by Tom Ryder, flirts with becoming a cautionary tale about the dangers of falling into toxic masculinity. However, the play lacks any meaningful alternative of what a man can be, so there’s not much of a lesson to be learned here. There would be some power to this nihilism if the writing or performance had poetry or heft, but sadly, the script relies largely on telling, not showing.

There are numerous occasions where Jack describes what his face did, how his body felt, where someone touched him and how it affected his emotions. The impact of the character would be far greater if these were silent moments, where Ryder could embody those facts and trust the audience to emotionally connect. These moments would also shift the pacing of a play that is sorely in need of some shifts in tempo. Instead, the script is often paired with literal gestures which lack refinement. This script could have been improved with either a different performer or perhaps a different partnership between performer and director.

The set is peppered with strange symbols of ugly masculinity: wadded-up tissues and crumpled beer cans. Their presence from the beginning affects our interpretation of Jack, who should read as more sensitive and aware than that at the start, but instead, the set and character in conjunction read as confused. The choice of a Gone with the Wind film poster is peculiar. Given that Ava is not about race and that Gone with the Wind is not mentioned in the script, it is confusing that Jack has a poster for a film which platforms and sympathises with racist opinions. Despite this distracting element, the set serves its purpose, and director Kitty Fox Davis and Ryder manage to find levels within the set to move the eyeline and create some dynamism.

It’s a noble pursuit to tackle toxic masculinity head-on, but Ava is let down by its script and performance. Perhaps something other than a one-man show is the answer to staging this particular social problem.

Runs until 26 October 2024