Writer: Jodie Doyle
Director: Ois O’Donoghure
Hate F%#k, from the title alone, promises to be brutal, visceral, and a distressingly impactful way to spend an evening. Fortunately, it does not disappoint, as Jodie Doyle’s professional playwriting debut for Jaxbanded Theatre Company takes you on a journey with Abi (Leanne Bickerdike), an aspiring actress who is assaulted by a former boyfriend. The examination of Abi’s character is convincing and realistic; she is a flawed, scared young woman who is worried about her future, while being forced to re-evaluate aspects of her past.
Opposite Bickerdike is Ruairí Nicholl, as, sequentially, Abi’s housemate, ex-boyfriend, colleague, and director of a Jason-centred Medea for which Abi auditions. With subtle changes in demeanour and expression, his ability to switch between affable, pompous, and vicious with ease makes his performance consistently engaging. Bickerdike also does a fine job, especially when depicting a coked-up Abi on a work night out, and exploding with pent-up rage at the director towards the end.
Doyle’s skill as a writer is on show in how she moves between the easy, realistic conversations with Abi and her housemate, Abi’s monologues about single, mid-20s life (drugs, pornography, masturbating, a lack of direction), the horror of her sexual assault, and this skewering of the man she should probably be begging for a job. She can be funny and serious, believable and scared, and never seem uncomfortable.
With all of the positivity towards F%#k, because it is frank, stark, and lays out its thesis so explicitly and without apology, this reviewer must confess that he had some reservations about the title; that it might not have served the play as best it could. This has nothing to do with profanity, but the orientation of the play. There is so much that is relatable and believable to the mid-20s experience, from miserable living conditions to working a dead-end job while feeling that everyone else is racing forward in life, that helps explain why Abi makes some poor decisions, but Doyle doesn’t pursue this as far as she can – not, of course, that she necessarily wanted to. Given the quality of the piece, and other work from Jaxbanded, this reviewer can only hope that Doyle will continue to explore these topics in future writing.
Ultan Stanley deserves particular praise for sound design that was foreboding and tense, and his work during scene changes, and in certain moments of violence, did much to create the feeling that anything could happen, and we almost certainly won’t enjoy what will. Amy Dunne’s stage was simple and effective; nearly everything on it was black and white, making it both malleable, familiar, and eerie.
Runs Until 13th April 2024.
The Review's Hub Score
Packs a Punch
