The Last Incel – Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin

Writer and Director: James Sykes

The Last Incel is an utterly ingenious show about a group of four men, ‘Incels’, who discuss their hatred for women and ultimately themselves. Their precious group gets infiltrated by a women, Margaret, who also happens to be a journalist. Margaret tries to study these men and form some sort of story to write about.

There was no set, just four black frames placed on the ground. I always find performances with no costume or set to be rather daring and my interest was immediately peaked. The men used these black frames to create the same effect as a zoom call, not looking at each other but facing the audience.

The bones of the show is an utterly ingenious and unique concept. For such a widely spoken about topic it is surprising that there isn’t more out there on it; it is a subject ripe for theatre.

The satirical humour lightens harsh topics, which can more often than not cause great upset and offence. However, like Sacha Baron Cohen’s work, there is undoubtedly an element of intellectual humour. Sykes as a writer found black comedy in the bleakness of real life events. Not only is this hard to do, but even more taxing to produce something of quality and substance. The Last Incel could be picked up tomorrow by a bignetwork and do very well as a TV show.

The four male leads were bouncing off each other’s energy like a squash ball flying back and forth. Humorous and dark as they were, these characters were also complex and super intriguing; it was impossible to take your eyes off them, particularly the character of Ghost, played by ‘Goblins’. Like most of his ‘one name wonder’ peers in the performing world (Rhianna, Cher, Drake), Goblins too, has something really, really special about him. His character was a scene stealer, every time he spoke the audience roared with laughter, and it is clear that ‘Goblins’ was born to perform.

There were however, moments of lacking in the physical movement; which was often off beat and not in unison. These seemingly small idiosyncrasies in the group might not seem like much of a problem now but atthat frequency, it unfortunately lowered the value of the production and cheapened it slightly. As theseactions often remind me of a school like production where not everyone has learnt the moves. By ironing out these kinks and having more succinct and concise movements, the show would grow substantially and the flow of the performance wouldn’t seem as janky. As mentioned before, It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this show became bigger and longer as a result of its success. Fixing the occasional forced over emotionalperformances, and the various inconsistencies in the physicality would elevate this show to a new height.

A show I won’t be forgetting any time soon!

Runs Until 27th April 2024.