BRIGHTON FRINGE: Sluts With Consoles – The Actors, Brighton

Written by: Alice Flynn

Produced and performed by: Dogmouth Theatre

Taking us into the world of girl gamers, Sluts With Consoles is a nuanced portrayal of two girls navigating a male-dominated, often toxic, culture. With references to much-loved console classics along the way, we see Player One and Player Two relive their formative gaming experiences. Their different interpretations of events ignite impassioned discussions on the best way to process the abuse and disrespect they are being shown by male gamers. The arguments resonate with personal experience, and along with some very clever use of gaming as a narrative tool, it makes for a captivating show.

Immediately, we are told we are in a computer game and the two seemingly flesh-and-blood people in front of us on the stage are just characters, they are not real, they do not have thoughts, they do not have feelings. They’re here to serve us, the audience. The transaction of entertainment – be it by actor, gamer or computer game character – is brilliantly illuminated here, and these entangled layers of meaning are manipulated to darkly comic effect.

Answering the question, what do computer game characters do during the loading screen?, we see Player One (Mia Harvey) and Player Two (Alice Flynn, who also wrote the piece) meet each other for the first time. P1 is a cutesy, enthusiastic femme girl and immediately clashes with P2, who is cynical, defensive, and a huge video game snob. They relive memories of the games of their youths and continue to rub each other up the wrong way in between levels.

Each player has a different view of a girl/woman’s place in the world of gaming. P2 is frustrated that P1 refuses to be angry and is instead content to follow the sexist rules of a culture geared towards the needs of men. We’re shown two opposing viewpoints failing to persuade each other. We feel the frustration of women who don’t feel supported by other women.

There’s some wonderful old-school text narration projected onto the stage as the computer game/theatre piece progresses. It looks just like cut scenes from a SNES game, and there are also nods to word-based games where you would be asked to select Y for yes or N for no. The music is taken from various classic games and, along with some atmospheric lighting, helps to recreate the full gaming experience. Each level is involving in its evocation of the real fear and tension created by a great game; P2 even clambers through the audience at one point, and there are some very ominous, hard-hitting scenes that really bring home the dark side of the culture. We’re taken on a gripping journey, and it’s a real pleasure to see a show as ambitious, eye-opening and visceral as this bittersweet love letter to gaming.

Runs until 31 May 2024