Theatre / Reviews
Review: It’s a Motherf*cking Pleasure, The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic – ‘Boundary-pushing and brilliant’
Tucked away inside the venue, the Weston Studio at Bristol Old Vic frequently puts on performances that push the boundaries and promote unique and important voices. It’s A Motherf**king Pleasure is no exception.
The show is the brainchild of FlawBored, a disability-led theatre company that seeks to address complex and uncomfortable ideas through performances such as this.
The main premise consists of a marketing agency who are accused of being ableist. Instead of learning from their mistakes, they use a blind influencer to make ‘being blind cool for everyone!’ However, their meetings are constantly interrupted by the cast pausing the action to ensure what they do is accessible and not offensive.
is needed now More than ever
For most of the show the cast is playing themselves. They begin by delivering a steady stream of apologies, disclaimers and excuses about making the performance as accessible as possible, which start realistic but quickly turn to a parody of the somewhat farcical attempts that society can make at proving non-ableist credentials.
The list includes methods such as:
- Setting a spotlight on a seat to allow a partially-sighted person to see properly (after stating they’ll respect their privacy by not revealing their name)
- Giving long descriptions of the setting for those with sight problems, including what the diffuser smells like and how many legs there are on the table
- Describing the ‘vibe’ of characters with ‘integrated audio description’, going in-depth about their personality to insulting degrees
It’s a Motherf*cking Pleasure, FlawBored – Chloe Palmer (back), Aarian Mehrabani (centre – who was replaced on the night by Phillip Olagoke) and Samuel Brewer (front) – photo: Guy Sanders
The stage design is simple, the highlight being a large screen at the back with rolling captions. While this is a helpful tool to those who need it, it also provides great source of comedy, with the captioner chiming in with funny takes throughout the show.
The show features three cast members, two of whom are meant to be blind; however, on the night, one of them had taken ill and was replaced by another sighted cast member, Phillip Olagoke. Understandably, he was reading from a script but remained very assured throughout.
This left Samuel Brewer as the only visually-impaired actor on stage. As well as a parody of himself, he also plays Tim, a blind worker at a marketing agency (Rize, with a Z) who seeks to turn people’s fear of ableism into profit. He gives a particularly strong performance, bringing in the laughs with ease while still addressing the serious topics with care.
Chloe Palmer, the sighted member of the team, takes on a few different characters, the most prominent being Helen Richardson. Working in HR and trying to be as inclusive as possible, she is so terrified of offending someone she can barely stammer through a sentence without worrying about how it will be received; asking blind people to describe themselves to her despite there being no need. Watching the character of Richardson navigate this is definitely one of the highlights of the show.
It’s A Motherf*cking Pleasure manages to poke fun at social media’s obsession with superficial woke behaviour in an inventive way while also educating people who might not be brushed up on their identity politics. It’s jokey and over-the-top but somehow completely believable at the same time.
I don’t normally give ratings for performances, but as I am under threat by the cast of being branded as ableist if I don’t give at least a four-star rating, they can have exactly that!
It’s a Motherf*cking Pleasure is at The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic on March 25-30 at 8pm. Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.
All photos: Guy Sanders
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